Marcos Assuncao

Marcos dos Santos Assuncao is a professional football player from Brazil who plays as a midfielder. A free-kick specialist, Marcos began his sporting career at the youth academy of Rio Branco Esporte Clube, where he broke into the first team in 1993. Over three seasons, he would play over 35 games, scoring 7 goals and getting himself noticed by clubs from higher divisions. Marcos signed for Santos in 1995, another three season deal that saw him play around 30-odd games for 3 goals. He won the 1997 Rio-Sao Paolo Cup and the 1998 Copa CONMEBOL title with Santos.

In 1997, Marcos moved to Flamengo and was immediately hitting the right notes, playing 42 times and scoring 7 goals. He was picked up by Italian giants AS Roma, in 1999, who decided that the midfielder would be a valuable addition to their first team. And they were right – Marcos went on to make over 55 appearances in three seasons, scoring 9 goals and helping Roma win the 2000-01 Serie A title and the 2001 Supercoppa Italiana.

That performance saw him move to Spain where he signed with Real Betis, another promising club that was playing attractive football. With Betis, Marcos hit the heights of his career, playing over 130 games and scoring 23 goals while leading Betis to the 2004-05 Copa del Rey title Athletic Bilbao along the way.

In 2007, after ending a long stint with Real Betis, Marcos moved to the middle-east and signed up with Al-Ahli in the UAE. He played 12 games in his first season and moved to Al-Shabab, also in the UAE, the following year. He had 21 games under his belt, with Al-Shabab, and 3 goals to his name, before choosing to move back to Brazil and signing up with Gremio Prudente.

However, after just a few months with Gremio, Marcos moved to Palmeiras and took over the captaincy, having played over 120 times for the team since 2010, winning the 2012 Copa do Brasil title with the side.

At the international level, Marcos has made 11 appearances for the Brazilian national team between 1998 and 2000.