Born in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Nikão did not know his father and lost his mother due to a cancer at the age of nine. He was raised by his grandmother, and after impressing in a local amateur team at the age of 12, he was brought up to Mirassol, São Paulo for a trial period.[1] At the age of 16, he also lost his grandmother, and two years later, his brother Thiago also died.[2]
Club career
Early career
Nikão began his career with Mirassol's youth setup, and subsequently had trials at CSKA Moscow and PSV Eindhoven; despite impressing, he was unable to stay at those clubs after not having a legal representative in those countries. In 2009, after a brief period at Palmeiras, he moved to Santos.
Atlético Mineiro
On 16 April 2010, as Santos did not exercise the buyout clause on his loan contract,[3] Nikão sigend for Atlético Mineiro.[4] He made his Série A debut on 10 October, coming on as a second-half substitute for Renan Oliveira in a 0–1 away loss against Internacional.
After appearing rarely, Nikão was loaned to Série B side Vitória on 9 February 2011.[5] He scored nine goals in only 12 appearances in the 2011 Campeonato Baiano, as his side lost the title to Bahia de Feira.
On 14 January 2015 Nikão signed a three-year deal with Atlético Paranaense.[10] He made his club debut on 26 February by playing the last 20 minutes of a 0–1 Campeonato Paranaense home loss against Foz do Iguaçu, and scored his first goal on 2 May by netting the third of 5–0 home routing of Nacional-PR.
On 6 June 2017, Nikão played his 100th match for Furacão.[11] On 14 July 2019, he reached his 200th match.[12]
On 10 October 2021, Nikão completed 300 matches for Athletico.[13]