Jose Ramirez Barreto

Early years

He was born in Bagé, Brazil in a family consisting of his parents and two siblings. He left home at the age of 15 to play football in the capital. From 15 to 22, he trained at Gremio, one of the best training academies in Brazil. He played under Luiz Felipe Scolari, when Scolari was the coach of the senior team in the academy. Then in 1998 he went to Japan and played for the Kawasaki Frontale in 1998-1999 before joining Mohun Bagan AC.

Career

He started his career in Gremio Academy and later called for the Gremio professional football team and played till 1998. Following his successful career in Gremio, he was called by Kawasaki Frontale, Japan in 1998 where he played till 1999.

Mohun Bagan AC

He joined Mohun Bagan AC, the giant club of India in 1999. In the 1999-2000 National Football League, he was part of a lethal forward line along with Igor Shkvyrin and Stephen Abarohi. He spent a successful period of five seasons with the club. During this tenure, Mohun Bagan AC won number of trophies including two National Football League. In the season 2001–02, he won five trophies including National Football League and Federation Cup.

Penang FA

However, despite popular speculation that he was heading back to his native Brazil, Barreto signed with Penang FA and played in the Super League Malaysia. His first year in Penang FA was a tremendous success, although Penang FA failed to win any silverware, he was dubbed as "the best foreign player" by spectators and pundits alike. His ability to command the midfield coupled with good scoring records had somewhat elevated his status in Malaysian football scene.

He was honoured as the club captain during his second season – a rather rare honour for foreign players in Malaysian football. As a result, he was nicknamed "Kapitan" by the Penang FA fans, loosely meaning "The Chief". Although he continued to show superb performances throughout the campaign, the inability of Penang FA to win any silverware for the second successive year made him frustrated. Rumours were rife before the Malaysia Cup quarter final match against Selangor FA that he would leave the club if Penang FA failed to win the tournament. Penang FA lost the quarter final with a 2–3 aggregate and just a week later the fear was realized – Barreto moved back to India with Mahindra United despite a lucrative offer from a Portuguese side.

Back to Mohun Bagan

In June 2006, he switched from Mahindra United back to Mohun Bagan AC for an Indian football record transfer fee of 60 lakhs after passing one of the best season in his career where he showed his masterclass that why he is considered as one of the finest foreign player as he helped his team to win all the trophies in Indian club football and moreover competing in Asian level. Since 2006, Barreto has stayed with the club he has fallen in love with and the supporters who consider him nothing less than a God, (Mohunbagan Supporters say : "SHEET GRISHMA BARSHA, BARRETO'I BHORSHA", it means Winter, Summer or Rain..Barreto is the saviour) he was heart winner of Bengali football fans, who has the ability to save them from any situation and treated like the almighty. His return to Mohun Bagan was honoured by the club officials by naming him captain for the season. In 2010, he achieved the unique feat of scoring 200 goals for Mohun Bagan, the only player in Indian football history to achieve this feat with one club. The record was achieved after a hattrick against Chirag United in an I-League game. Barreto scored 200 goals in 324 games.

He played his last match for Mohun Bagan on 6 May 2012 against Pune Fc in last round of I-League match and helps to get a victory by 2-0. He scored the opening goal of the match. More than 30,000 crowd turned up to bid an emotional farewell to Jose Marcio Barreto Ramires in green and maroon jersey at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan that afternoon.

Barreto is widely considered as the finest foreign player to have played in India. He has become a model footballer with his performance on & off the pitch. His skill, finishing, leadership and ability to come down in defense to help, coupled with humble nature, has endeared him to thousands of football fans, irrespective of the club they support. He is considered as the best foreign football players in the history of Indian Club football and worshiped like a living legend.

Barreto still remains fifth in the list of top goalscorers in NFL/I-League with 101 goals, 94 of those came while playing for Bagan.

Bhawanipore F.C.

He scored for the Bhawanipore F.C. in the 2nd match of the I-League 2nd Division, against Simla Youngs F.C., thus guiding the team to a 1−0 win. He again scored against Green Valley F.C. to secure a 2−0 win on 13 March. On 17 March, he scored against PIFA F.C. to win it 3−1. All the Group B matches were played at Nehru Stadium, Indore. In the 2013 I-League 2nd Division Final Round, he continued his form. On 2 April, he scored the injury time winner in 1−0 win over Rangdajied United F.C.. On 8 April, he scored a hat-trick to drub the promising Mumbai Tigers F.C. 3-2. On 11 April, he again scored against lowly city rivals Southern Samity to give them a lead, though later compatriot (& former teammate at Mohun Bagan A.C. Marcos Pereira) scored an injury-time equalizer to secure a 2−2 draw. In the 2nd leg, he scored against city rivals Southern Samity to secure a 4−1 win on 21 April. On 27 April in the last match, he again scored against Mumbai Tigers F.C. to secure a 5−3 win, though it was in vain as Rangdajied United F.C. defeated Mohammedan Sporting to earn promotion ahead of Bhawanipore F.C..

Managerial career

He is the assistant coach of the ISL team Atlético de Kolkata, the first champion of Indian Super League. He was responsible on choosing the Indian footballers for the franchise. In the year 2015, he joined Reliance Foundation, Mumbai as the assistant coach of the project "Little Champ" and is continuing his service there. In between, he has also completed "C" and "D" professional coaching degree under authorization of Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Professional career

He is one of the directors of Brasil Futebal Academia (BFA) in India along with Roberto Mendes Silva and also is the advisor of TIG-BFA project to fulfill his dream to give back something to the country by this beautiful game.

Residence

He resides in Mumbai with his family.