Alemão (footballer, born 1989)

José Carlos Tofolo Júnior, commonly known as Alemão (born 2 March 1989), is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as a forward. He is the current head coach of Monte Azul.

Alemão

Personal information
Full name	José Carlos Tofolo Júnior
Date of birth	(1989-03-02) 2 March 1989 (age 36)
Place of birth	Valinhos, Brazil
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Monte Azul (head coach)
Youth career
2003–2008	Santos
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2009	Santos	4	(1)
2009–2010	Udinese	0	(0)
2010–2012	Vicenza	21	(2)
2011	→ Varese (loan)	6	(1)
2012	→ Grêmio Catanduvense (loan)	12	(2)
2012	→ Guaratinguetá (loan)	25	(14)
2013–2014	Ponte Preta	37	(9)
2013	→ Vitória (loan)	9	(1)
2014	→ Chapecoense (loan)	4	(1)
2014	→ Portuguesa (loan)	8	(1)
2015–2016	Cruz Azul	14	(3)
2015–2016	→ Figueirense (loan)	4	(0)
2016	ABC	4	(1)
2016	Botafogo-SP	15	(7)
2016–2017	FC Eindhoven	21	(5)
2017–2019	Paraná	27	(7)
2018	→ Busan IPark (loan)	8	(2)
2018	→ CSA (loan)	12	(0)
2019	→ Ituano (loan)	4	(0)
2020	Guarani	13	(0)
2021	America-RJ	6	(1)
2021	Jaraguá	5	(0)
2021–2023	Maringá	38	(8)
2021	→ Goianésia (loan)	4	(0)
2022	→ Confiança (loan)	0	(0)
Total		301	(66)
Managerial career
2024–	Monte Azul
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alemão also holds Italian nationality.^[1]

Club career

Early career

Alemão started his career at Santos, and signed a professional contract with club in 2005.^[2] He made his first team debut on 31 January 2008, starting in a 1–2 Campeonato Paulista loss against Grêmio Barueri,^[3] due to Kléber Pereira's injury.^[4] Alemão scored his first goal for Peixe four days later, in a 1–1 draw against Paulista.^[5]

Udinese/Varese and loans

In July 2008 he was signed by Serie A club Udinese on a reported free transfer,^[6] with performance based fees.^[7] However, Alemão was not registered in Lega Calcio as the club did not have an extra non-EU signing quota (Udinese signed Ricardo Chará, Dušan Basta, Alexis Sánchez and Odion Ighalo that season but only the last 2 were officially registered in the League Office). Santos also submitted a new contract to Brazilian Football Confederation BID-E system to document a new contract which last until 2011 on 28 July. Alemão was only officially signed for Udinese in June 2009, and never appeared for Santos neither in 2008 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A nor 2009 Campeonato Paulista, due to a dispute with the club's board.

With Udinese, Alemão played for its Primavera under-20 team as an overage player.^[8] In July 2010 he was sold to Serie B club Vicenza in co-ownership deal, for €400,000.^[9][10] Alemão made his debut abroad on 20 August 2010, replacing Alain Baclet in the 66th minute of a 0–2 Serie B loss against Atalanta.^[11]

On 31 January 2011, he was swapped with Marco Cellini of Varese.^[12][13] In June 2011 Udinese gave up the remain 50% registration rights for free.

Back to Brazil

In January 2012 Alemão returned to Brazil, signing a temporary deal with Grêmio Catanduvense.^[14] He moved to Guaratinguetá until December in mid-2012.^{[citation needed]} After scoring regularly he moved to neighbouring Ponte Preta.^[15]

After only appearing sparingly in 2013 Série A, Alemão was loaned to fellow league team Vitória. He subsequently was loaned to Chapecoense^[16] and Portuguesa^[17] in the following year, he scored 8 goals in total in Serie league and State league.

Cruz Azul

On 12 December 2014 Alemão signed for Liga MX side Cruz Azul.^[18] He got 3 goals and 4 assists during 14 games but Figueirense wants him to play in the club as loan.^{[citation needed]}

Second Return to Brazil

In 2015, he returned to Brazil again for Figueirense. He then signed by ABC and Ribeirão Preto based Botafogo-SP.

FC Eindhoven

In 2016, he moved to Europe again for Dutch club FC Eindhoven.^[1]

Honours

ABC

• Campeonato Potiguar: 2016

Monte Azul

• Copa Paulista: 2024