Carlos França
Brazilian footballer (born 1980)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carlos Clay de França[1] (born 1 January 1980) is a Brazilian association football coach and former player.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carlos Clay de França | ||
| Date of birth | 1 January 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | Jaguariúna, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2005 | CE Europa | ||
| 2008 | Chicago Fire Premier | ||
| 2009–2011 | Caperanese/Chiavari | 61 | (46) |
| 2011 | Bogliasco | 16 | (6) |
| 2011–2012 | Legnago Salus | 14 | (4) |
| 2012–2013 | Lavagnese | 33 | (16) |
| 2013–2014 | RapalloBogliasco | 32 | (29) |
| 2014–2015 | Cuneo | 36 | (27) |
| 2015–2016 | Lecco | 33 | (27) |
| 2016–2017 | Triestina | 31 | (23) |
| 2017–2020 | Potenza | 72 | (39) |
| 2020–2021 | Seregno | 0 | (0) |
| 2021 | RG Ticino | 8 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2021 | Seregno | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 29 December 2021 | |||
Playing career
França started his European career playing for the small Barcelona-based club CE Europa.[2] He scored a goal for the team to win a promotion to Tercera División in 2005.[3] He suffered from a spinal tumor in 2006 that almost ended his football career.[4] According to the footballer himself, he also played for Chicago Fire Premier and Chicago Storm.[5] França scored a goal in the last group stage round in 2008 PDL season for Chicago Fire Premier against Michigan Bucks.[6]
He was a player of Caperanese in the 2009–10 season, which won Serie D promotion in 2010 from Eccellenza Liguria (Italian sixth highest level until 2014; top level of Liguria region).[7][8]
Serie D clubs
França remained in the squad of Caperanese in 2010–11 Serie D season. In May 2011, he joined Bogliasco.[9]
França joined Cuneo in 2014.[10]
França joined Lecco in 2015.[11] In the following season, he joined fellow Serie D club Triestina.[12]
After winning the Serie D promotion playoffs with Triestina, França signed a new contract with the club on 7 July 2017.[13] The promotion of Triestina was confirmed on 4 August.[14] However, on 31 August 2017, he returned to Serie D for Potenza.[15] França played twice for Triestina in 2017–18 Coppa Italia and once at 2017–18 Coppa Italia Serie C.[16]
Potenza
França was a player for Potenza since mid-2017. The team won promotion to Serie C as 2017–18 Serie D Group H winner. He also scored 25 league goals that season, as the second in the topscorer table of that group.[17]
Seregno
On 17 August 2020 he moved to Seregno.[18]
In November, he was sidelined due to a serious knee injury which required surgery.[19]
RG Ticino
In August 2021, after having guided Seregno to Serie C as a head coach, França decided to accept an offer as a player for Serie D team RG Ticino.[20] He successively left the club by the end of December and retired again from active football.[21]
Coaching career
On 2 March 2021, while still recovering from injury, his club Seregno announced to have promoted França as head coach of the Serie D club.[22] Under his tenure, Seregno managed to climb up the table and win promotion to Serie C with one game still in hand, thus bringing back the Lombardian club to professional football for the first time since 1982.[23] Despite his successes, on 24 July 2021 Seregno announced França was not confirmed as head coach for the club's upcoming Serie C campaign.[24]
In the summer of 2023, França accepted an offer from Sampdoria to be the club's new under-18 coach.[25] He successively worked as Under-19 coach at Pro Vercelli from July 2024[26] to January 2025.[27]
Honours
Player
- club
- Serie D group stage winner: 2015 (Cuneo)
- Serie D group stage runner-up and promotion playoffs winner: 2017 (Triestina)
- Eccellenza group stage runner-up (Liguria) and promotion playoffs winner: 2010 (Caperanese)[7][8]
- individual
- Serie D Group A topscorer: 2015 (Cuneo)[28]
- Eccellenza Liguria topscorer: 2010 (Caperanese)[29]
Manager
Seregno
Personal life
Cassiano Bodini is his brother-in-law.[30]