Marcelo looking to establish himself in Germany
Marcelo Antonio Guedes Filho has found success in his native Brazil, Poland and the Netherlands.
Breakthrough at Santos
Now at Hannover 96, the combative central defender is looking to add Germany’s Bundesliga to the list of leagues in which he has proven himself so far.
Born in Sao Vicente, near Sao Paulo, on 20 May 1987, Marcelo began his footballing career at one of the top addresses in Brazilian football: Santos FC. Rising through the youth ranks, he forced his way into the first team at the age of 20 and was a regular in his two seasons at the club, helping Santos to win the 2007 Sao Paulo State Championship.
In the summer of 2008 he decided he needed a change and became one of the many Brazilian footballers to try his luck abroad. His destination was Wisla Krakow in the Polish Ekstraklasa, where he soon cemented his place in the first team yet again and added another medal to his haul with the league title in 2008/09.
The next Dante?
After two years in Poland, he was on the move again, this time to the Eredivisie and PSV Eindhoven, where he maintained his knack for adapting quickly to new surroundings. In his three seasons in the Netherlands he was a mainstay of the Red-and-Whites’ defence and played his part as PSV beat Heracles Almelo to lift the KNVB Cup.
In many ways his career has followed a similar trajectory to that of compatriot Dante, who played in Brazil, France and Belgium before establishing himself in the Bundesliga. Now at Hannover, Marcelo will be hoping to do the same, as well as making his mark in a Reds’ defence that had the third-worst defensive record in the Bundesliga in 2012/13. And Hannover will also be hoping his knack for winning trophies might help them end their 21-year weight for silverware.
