Quick Facts
Biography
Uilson de Souza Paula Júnior (born 27 April 1989 in São Paulo), commonly known as Júnior Caiçara, is a Brazilian footballer. He currently plays as a defender for Süper Lig side İstanbul Başakşehir.
Career
Santo André and loans
Caiçara's first professional club is Santo André. In 2009, he was loaned out to Brazilian team CS Alagoano. He did not make a league appearance for the team. In 2010 Caiçara was sent on loan to América-SP where he made his league debut on 14 January against São Bento.
In summer of 2010 he goes to Portugal team Gil Vicente again on loan from Santo André. He made his debut on 29 August against Trofense in the second Portugal league. He helped his team to gain promotion in the Primeira Liga and played with the team in their return in Primeira Liga.
Ludogorets Razgrad
After playing two seasons for Gil Vicente in Portugal, Júnior Caiçara joined Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad on 5 June 2012. He signed a three-year contract and was given the number 80 jersey.
On 11 July, Caiçara marked his debut for Ludogorets with a goal and first trophy. He opened the scoring in the 2012 Bulgarian Supercup against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, the match ended 3–1 to Ludogorets. On 18 July, he made his European debut against Dinamo Zagreb in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Then he made his Bulgarian A Group debut, playing full 90 minutes in a 3–0 away win over Cherno More Varna on 11 August. Caiçara quickly established himself as Ludogorets's first choice right-back, making 28 league appearances during his debut campaign in Bulgaria. He collected his first A group title winner's medal at the end of the 2012–13 season.
On 21 August 2013, Caiçara was sent off against Basel in a 4–2 home defeat in the play-off round of the Champions League, his first red card in a Ludogorets shirt.
On 12 December 2014, Ludogorets announced that Caiçara has extended his contract with a new two-year deal that will keep him at the club until 2017.
Schalke 04
On 25 June 2015, Caiçara signed with German club Schalke 04 on a 3 year deal for a fee of €4.5 million. He made his Bundesliga debut in a 1–1 draw with Darmstadt 98.
İstanbul Başakşehir F.K.
On 16 January 2017, Caiçara signed with Turkish club İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. on a 3.5 year deal for an undisclosed fee.
International career
On 1 July 2014, Caiçara got a Bulgarian passport and become able to play for Bulgaria from April 2016. He said that he would be happy to represent Bulgaria on the international level.
Career statistics
- As of 1 January 2017.
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | League | Season | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| Brazil | League | Copa Brasil | S. America | Other | Total | ||||||||
| CS Alagoano | Série D | 2009 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| América-SP | Série A2 | 2010 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 4 | 0 | |||
| Total | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |||
| Portugal | League | Taça | Europe | Taça Liga | Total | ||||||||
| Gil Vicente | Segunda Liga | 2010–11 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 6 | 1 | 35 | 2 | ||
| Primeira Liga | 2011–12 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 6 | 1 | 35 | 1 | |||
| Total | 56 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 70 | 3 | |||
| Bulgaria | League | CCB Cup | Europe | Supercup | Total | ||||||||
| Ludogorets Razgrad | A Group | 2012–13 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 31 | 1 | |
| 2013–14 | 29 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 53 | 0 | |||
| 2014–15 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 0 | |||
| Total | 83 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 128 | 1 | |||
| Germany | League | DFB-Pokal | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||||
| Schalke 04 | Bundesliga | 2015–16 | 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | 32 | 0 | ||
| 2016–17 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | – | 9 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 26 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 1 | |||
| Career total | 169 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 39 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 243 | 5 | |||
Honours
Club
Gil Vicente
- Liga de Honra. (1): 2010–11
- Taça da Liga Runner-up (1): 2011–12
Ludogorets Razgrad
- Bulgarian A Group. (3): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
- Bulgarian Cup (1): 2013–14
- Bulgarian Supercup (1): 2012