Cássio (footballer, born 1987)

Cássio Roberto Ramos (born 6 June 1987), simply known as Cássio, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Cruzeiro.

Cássio

Cássio with Corinthians in 2022
Personal information
Full name	Cássio Roberto Ramos[1]
Date of birth	(1987-06-06) 6 June 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth	Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Cruzeiro
Number	1
Youth career
2004–2005	Grêmio
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2007	Grêmio	1	(0)
2007–2011	PSV	3	(0)
2009	→ Sparta Rotterdam (loan)	14	(0)
2012–2024	Corinthians	525	(0)
2024–	Cruzeiro	15	(0)
International career‡
2007	Brazil U20	11	(0)
2007–2019	Brazil	1	(0)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Brazil Copa América Winner 2019 Brazil
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:00, 19 October 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 3 June 2018

Cássio began his career at the academy of Grêmio in his home state of Rio Grande do Sul and was quickly promoted to the club's first team. He then spent some time in the Netherlands for PSV, where he won two trophies, and Sparta Rotterdam, before joining Corinthians in 2012.

Until his departure for Cruzeiro in May 2024, Cássio has made over 700 appearances for Corinthians and won two Brasileirão titles, four Campeonato Paulista titles, a Copa Libertadores, a Recopa Sudamericana and a FIFA Club World Cup in 2012, where the Timão beat Chelsea in the final. Cássio himself was named man of the match and also awarded the tournament's Golden Ball. Since 2019, he is Corinthians' most decorated player in their history.^[2]

Cássio was a Brazilian international from 2007 to 2019 and played at two major tournaments, the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 Copa América, which Brazil won.

Club career

Grêmio

Born in Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Cássio was a Grêmio youth graduate. He made his first team debut on 12 February 2006, in a 2–1 Campeonato Gaúcho home win over Santa Cruz-RS.

Cássio made his debut in the Brasileirão on 26 October 2006, replacing the injured Rodrigo Galatto in a 2–1 away win over Fluminense. He spent the remainder of his time at Grêmio as the club's third-choice goalkeeper behind Marcelo Grohe and Galatto, who were also youth graduates.

PSV Eindhoven

Cássio playing for Corinthians in 2022

He started his first game for PSV in January 2009. Soon after, the 21-year-old former Brazilian U-20 national squad goalkeeper moved to Sparta Rotterdam until the end of the season.^[3] In the 2011–12 season he played at the second team. On 28 September 2011 his contract was terminated by mutual consent and Cássio returned to Brazil.^[4]

Corinthians

In the end of 2011, after terminating his contract with PSV Eindhoven, Cássio signed with Corinthians. On 27 April 2012, he was made Corinthians' first-choice goalkeeper, replacing Júlio César, the former number one goalkeeper at the club. He made his debut in the Libertadores 2012 on 2 May 2012, in a game against Emelec in the round-of-16. The result was a goalless draw and Cássio was elected Man of the Match following a great display. He went on to make 7 more appearances for Corinthians in the competition, helping the team become champions, including a miraculous save against Vasco da Gama in the second-leg of the quarter-finals. On 16 December 2012, Cássio helped Corinthians beat Chelsea by the score of 1–0 in the FIFA Club World Cup. He was later rewarded the golden ball for the tournament due to his brilliant performances during the competition. In May 17, 2024, Cássio came out and said he will sadly leave Corinthians, ending a 12-year-old career with the São Paulo club.

International career

Cássio training with Brazil at the 2018 FIFA World Cup

He has been capped at Under-20 level for Brazil and played for the U-20 World Cup in Canada.

The first call came in 2007 by Dunga for two friendly matches against Chile and Ghana. He was 19 years old and was called up due to Helton's injury; and also because Dunga was calling some players under the Olympic age to prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Eventually he did make it to the preliminary squad for the Beijing Games, but lost out a place in the final list to Renan and Diego Alves.

In August 2012, Cássio was called up by Mano Menezes for two friendlies against South Africa and China.^[5]

He was called up by Brazil coach Dunga in 2015 for two games of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification and was called up again three times by Tite in the second semester of 2017 for four consecutive games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification^[6] and two friendlies.^[7] He was given his first cap on 10 November 2017, coming in as a substitute for Alisson for the second half of the friendly against Japan. His participation was minimal due to Japan's limited attempts on goal, but he ended up conceding two goals from Makino and Sugimoto, though the latter's was nullified.^[8]

In May 2018, he was named in the final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.^[9] He also was part of the 2019 Copa América's winning squad.^[10]

Career statistics

Club

As of 30 October 2024^[11]

Club	Season	League			State League		National Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Grêmio	2006	Série A	1	0	2	0	—		—		—		3	0
PSV	2007–08	Eredivisie	0	0	—		—		—		—		0	0
	2008–09		1	0	—		1	0	—		—		2	0
	2009–10		0	0	—		0	0	—		—		0	0
	2010–11		2	0	—		0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	–		3	0
	Total		3	0	—		1	0	1	0	—		5	0
Sparta Rotterdam (loan)	2008–09	Eredivisie	14	0	—		0	0	—		—		14	0
Corinthians	2012	Série A	32	0	1	0	0	0	8[lower-alpha 2]	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	43	0
	2013		29	0	8	0	3	0	7[lower-alpha 2]	0	2[lower-alpha 4]	0	49	0
	2014		35	0	8	0	8	0	—		—		51	0
	2015		35	0	13	0	2	0	10[lower-alpha 2]	0	—		60	0
	2016		21	0	13	0	2	0	8[lower-alpha 2]	0	—		44	0
	2017		35	0	17	0	6	0	6[lower-alpha 5]	0	—		64	0
	2018		27	0	18	0	8	0	7[lower-alpha 2]	0	—		60	0
	2019		32	0	18	0	7	0	10[lower-alpha 5]	0	—		67	0
	2020		36	0	15	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 2]	0	—		55	0
	2021		37	0	11	0	4	0	6[lower-alpha 5]	0	—		58	0
	2022		34	0	12	0	9	0	9[lower-alpha 2]	0	—		64	0
	2023		37	0	11	0	8	0	10[lower-alpha 6]	0	—		66	0
	2024		3	0	10	0	1	0	3[lower-alpha 5]	0	—		17	0
	Total		370	0	155	0	58	0	80	0	4	0	712	0
Cruzeiro	2024	Série A	15	0	—		—		6[lower-alpha 5]	0	—		21	0
Career total			403	0	157	0	59	0	87	0	4	0	756	0

1. Appearance in UEFA Europa League
2. Appearances in Copa Libertadores
3. Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup
4. Appearances in Recopa Sudamericana
5. Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
6. Four appearances in Copa Libertadores, six appearances in Copa Sudamericana

International

As of 8 December 2023^[12]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Brazil	2007	0	0
	2008	0	0
	2009	0	0
	2010	0	0
	2011	0	0
	2012	0	0
	2013	0	0
	2014	0	0
	2015	0	0
	2016	0	0
	2017	1	0
	2018	0	0
	2019	0	0
Total		1	0

Honours

Cássio accepting his individual award after the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup Final

PSV

• Eredivisie: 2007–08^{[citation needed]}
• Johan Cruyff Shield: 2008^{[citation needed]}

Corinthians^[2]

• Copa Libertadores: 2012
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2012
• Campeonato Paulista: 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019
• Recopa Sudamericana: 2013
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 2015, 2017

Brazil

• 2007 South American U-20 Championship
• Superclásico de las Américas: 2012
• Copa América: 2019^[10]

Individual

• FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2012^{[citation needed]}
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year: 2015^[13]
• Best Goalkeeper in Brazil: 2015,^[14] 2017,^[15] 2022^[16]
• Campeonato Paulista Team of the Year: 2019,^[17] 2020
• Craque da Galera do Campeonato Paulista: 2019
• Bola de Prata: 2022
• Best Goalkepper in Copa do Brasil: 2022

Literature

• Celso Unzelte: "Cássio: a trajetória do maior goleiro da história do Corinthians", Universo dos Livros, São Paulo, 2019. ISBN 855030462X

References

1. "FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of Players: Brazil" (PDF). FIFA. 15 July 2018. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2019.
2. "Cássio se torna jogador com maior número de títulos na história do Corinthians" (in Portuguese). Corinthians. 21 April 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
3. "PSV verhuurt Cássio Ramos aan Sparta". Voetbalzone.nl. 30 January 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
4. PSV ontbindt contract met Ramos, ED.nl, 28 September 2011
5. huffingtonpost.com. "Brazil Drops Ganso from South Africa and China Friendlies". Retrieved 17 November 2015.
6. Ivo Almeida, Pedro (15 September 2017). "Tite mantém Cássio e aumenta testes com Tardelli e Fred na seleção". UOL Esporte (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Grupo Folha. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
7. Salgado, Diego; Carneiro, Gabriel; Almeida, Pedro Ivo (9 November 2017). "Sem Walter, Corinthians vai pedir dispensa de Cássio e deve criar impasse". UOL Esportes (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Grupo Folha. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
8. "Brasil derrota o Japão por 3 a 1 em amistoso em Lille". O Globo (in Portuguese). Lille: Grupo Globo. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
9. "World Cup: Neymar named in Brazil's 23-man squad". BBC Sport. 14 May 2018.
10. "Brazil 3–1 Peru". BBC Sport. 7 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
11. Cássio at Soccerway. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
12. "Cássio". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
13. "Vencedores do Prêmio Craque do Brasileirão 2015" (in Portuguese). Confederação Brasileira de Futebol. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
14. "Confira a seleção de craques premiada pelo Troféu Mesa Redonda - Gazeta Esportiva". www.gazetaesportiva.com. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
15. "Veja os vencedores da edição 2017 do Troféu Mesa Redonda - Gazeta Esportiva". www.gazetaesportiva.com. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
16. "Surpresas e emoção no palco: saiba como foi a 19ª edição do Troféu Mesa Redonda - Gazeta Esportiva". www.gazetaesportiva.com. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
17. "Corinthians, Jean Mota e Martinelli dominam premiação do campeonato" [Corinthians, Jean Mota and Martinelli dominate the tournament's awards] (in Brazilian Portuguese). Federação Paulista de Futebol. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.

External links

• Cássio at Sambafoot