Cicinho

Cícero João de Cezare, known as Cicinho (Pradópolis, Brazil, June 24, 1980), is a Brazilian former soccer player. He played as a right back and his last team was Sivasspor of the Turkish Super League.

Biography

Educated in a practicing Catholic family, he learned from a young age to have faith in religion. However, it was not until 1997 that he became attracted to the Bible and its teachings. A couple of years before, he had been an altar boy in the church in his neighborhood, and although this practice was no more than a small anecdote in his life, it did not take long for him to be given the nickname “Reverend.” His passion was football and he took his first steps with the ball in a small club called XV de Jau.

In 1998, he moved to Botafogo. First, in the junior team and on loan. A year later he was transferred and was a key player in a team that won the Conmebol title and was proclaimed champion of the Paulista U-20 Championship. Shortly after he joined Botafogo's professional team, where he began playing defense. The reason was concise and simple: there were many midfielders in the squad and few defenders. His beginnings were complicated since the coach continually changed his position. Despite this, he had the enormous satisfaction of playing for some games in the same position as Cafú, neither more nor less than his football idol. From this moment and after 4 seasons between Botafogo and Atlético Mineiro, he began to succeed and became one of the most outstanding players in Brazilian football. In 2004 he signed for São Paulo and at the end of 2005 he joined the ranks of Real Madrid.

On September 24, 2006, in a match against Betis, he suffered a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that forced him to be sidelined for approximately 6 months. On matchday number 32, Cicinho joined the Spanish League again against Athletic Club de Bilbao, starting as a starter.

After a hectic summer in terms of transfers, and after doubts about whether the player would be transferred to Sevilla, Roma, or if he would stay in the first team; Real Madrid transferred Cicinho to the Italian team on August 22, 2007 for 8 million euros.

He was loaned to São Paulo where he headed to the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores, to return to Roma. Later he was loaned again to Villarreal to cover the loss of a defender due to injury.

In June 2011, he returned to AS Roma, his club of origin.

Cicinho returns to Brazilian football permanently, after 7 years in Europe.

In 2012, Cicinho was interviewed in Brazil's Fantastic Record and stated that he almost retired from football because of alcoholism.

On December 2, his team would end up relegated to Serie B, but Cicinho said he wanted to continue with the club until 2013.

National team

He has been international with the Brazilian soccer team. His first call-up to his national team was in April 2005, when Carlos Alberto Parreira called him up for the friendly match between Brazil and Guatemala. He also played in the World Cup in Germany with a normal performance, playing two games against Japan and the French team trying to help his team that would finally end up being defeated in the quarterfinals. After the nightmare in Germany he was called up for 3 games by coach Dunga. His last game for the national team was on September 5, 2007 against Wales.

Participations in Copa América

Cup	Headquarters	Outcome
Copa América 2004	Peru Peru	Champion
Copa América 2007	Venezuela Venezuela	Champion

Participations in FIFA Confederations Cups

Cup	Headquarters	Outcome
Confederations Cup 2005	GermanyGermany	Champion

Participations in World Cups

World	Headquarters	Outcome
2006 Football World Cup	GermanyGermany	Final rooms

Clubs

Club	Country	Year
Botafogo	BrazilBrazil	1999-2000
Atletico Mineiro		2001
Botafogo		2002
Atletico Mineiro		2002-2003
São Paulo		2004-2005
Real Madrid	SpainSpain	2005-2007
Rome	ItalyItaly	2007-2009
São Paulo	BrazilBrazil	2010
Villarreal	SpainSpain	2011
Rome	ItalyItaly	2011-2012
Sport Recife	BrazilBrazil	2012-2013
Sivasspor	TurkeyTurkey	2013-2016

Palmarés

Regional championships

Title	Club	State	Year
Paulist Championship	São Paulo F. C.	São Paulo	2005

National Championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
Spanish League	Real Madrid	SpainSpain	2007

International Cups

Title	Club (*)	Headquarters	Year
Copa Libertadores	São Paulo F. C.	São Paulo	2005
Confederations Cup	Selection of Brazil	GermanyGermany	2005
FIFA World Cup of Clubs	São Paulo F. C.	Yokohama	2005

(*) Includes the selection.