Place of birth Marilia, Brazil Name Guilherme Cassio Playing position Role Footballer | Height 1.83 m Years Team Position Forward | |
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Full name Guilherme de Cassio Alves Date of birth (1974-05-08) 8 May 1974 (age 41) | ||
Current team Novorizontino (coach) | ||
Guilherme de Cássio Alves (born 8 May 1974), known simply as Guilherme, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a striker, and the current coach.
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In his country, he played with eight clubs with different fortunes, and also competed professionally in Spain and Saudi Arabia during a 13-year career. Over the course of 11 Série A seasons, he amassed totals of 155 games and 68 goals.
Guilherme appeared with the Brazilian national team at the 2001 Copa América. In 2011, he started working as a manager.
Club career
Born in Marília, São Paulo, Guilherme started his professional career at age 18 with local Marília Atlético Clube. After a few games, São Paulo FC manager Telê Santana signed him, and he played a relatively important part in the club's conquests in the following two years: the Supercopa Sudamericana, the Copa Libertadores, the Intercontinental Cup, the Copa CONMEBOL and the Recopa Sudamericana.
In January 1995, Guilherme left for Spain and joined Rayo Vallecano, scoring 14 goals in only 17 matches (half-a-season) as the team achieved promotion to La Liga. During the following two campaigns, he continued to net in double digits, but they returned to the second division at the end of the latter.
In 1997, Guilherme returned to his country with Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense. In the following year he moved to CR Vasco da Gama, where he was very rarely played, but also helped to the Torneio Rio-São Paulo conquest.
Still in 1999, Guilherme signed with Clube Atlético Mineiro, where he experienced his best years as a professional. In the year's Série A, he was crowned top scorer by breaking the record which belonged to club legend Reinaldo, and led the team to the vice-championship.
Guilherme played one year on loan with Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, scoring twice in his debut, a 3–2 home win against Sport Club Internacional. However, his stay was marred by a serious car accident which resulted in the death of two persons. He never regained his previous form with Corinthians, and after leaving Atlético for good (with a total of 139 official goals), represented Ittihad FC of Saudi Arabia.
In the year 2004, Guilherme signed for Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, scoring 13 goals in 50 competitive games and helping the team to the Campeonato Mineiro. He finished his career in the following year, with Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas; he suffered a serious injury while at the service of the latter and, whilst recovering from his condition at Corinthians, severely hurt his thigh and decided to end his career, at 31.
In the beginning of 2007, Guilherme served as first club Marília's director of football, with the side in the Série B. He subsequently joined another former team, Atlético Mineiro, being named assistant coach alongside Nei Pandolfo and Freddy Rincón.
On 15 February 2011, Guilherme was hired as Ipatinga Futebol Clube's manager. On 21 June 2013, after a successful spell at Marília Atlético Clube, he was named coach at Grêmio Novorizontino, being crowned champions of the following year's Campeonato Paulista Série A3.
After achieving a first ever promotion to the Campeonato Paulista in 2015, Guilherme was appointed at the helm of Vila Nova Futebol Clube on 14 June 2016.
International career
Courtesy of his solid Atlético performances, Guilherme played a total of six matches with Brazil, his debut coming in 2000. He was called up for the squad which represented the nation in the following year's Copa América, scoring in a 2–0 group stage win against Peru in an eventual quarter-final exit.