Claudio Cacapa

Claudio Roberto da Silva, also known as Cacapa, is a professional Brazilian football player who plays as a defender. Cacapa’s career has been one with the highest ups and some pretty low downs. After beginning his professional career in 1996, with Atletico Mineiro, Cacapa quickly became a first team starter and went on to become the best player in the Brazilian League, in 1999. He played almost 70 games with Atletico Mineiro, scoring two goals, in 5 seasons with the team, before moving on to Europe.

Cacapa signed up with French giants Olympique Lyonnais, after helping Atletico win the Copa Conmebol and Minas Gerais State Championship titles. He came to win titles and became one of the most influential players for the French side.

With Cacapa, and under five seasons of his captaincy, Lyon went on to win 6 continuous League titles as well as five continuous French Cup titles. Despite his performance, Cacapa was left out of the Brazilian national team after making just 3 appearances during his Atletico Mineiro days.

After refusing to sign an extension to his deal with Lyon, Cacapa moved to England and signed up with Newcastle United. Cacapa had played over 125 games for Lyon, scoring seven goals and winning plenty of silverware. At Newcastle, the story had changed.

The team was struggling and so was Cacapa as he failed to make a permanent place for himself in the side. Injury and bench-time meant that Cacapa would only play 29 games over his two seasons with the magpies, scoring two goals over that period.

In 2009, Cacapa decided to return to Brazil and signed with Cruzeiro. He played a single season and had 22 appearances, putting his European experience to good use.

At the end of 2010, Cacapa moved back to Europe and signed with Evian, in the French second division. His contract was just six-months long, at the end of which he returned to Brazil and signed up with Avai Futebol Clube.