Marcelo Mattos

Who is Marcelo Mattos?

Marcelo de Mattos Terra or simply Marcelo Mattos is a Brazilian football defensive midfielder who is known for his positioning, tight marking of the opposing player and the ability to bring the ball forward to other offensive players. He currently plays for Botafogo.

Marcelo was born in Brazil where he began at Mirassol a third division club in Brazil he then left for FC Tokyo in the J-League. After exceptional performances he transferred to Associação Desportiva São Caetano where he then left for Sport Club Corinthians Paulista. At Corinthians, Marcelo established himself where he excelled alongside Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano being dubbed the team of the year after the trio won the Championship.

He was part of the Brazilian team that played at the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2001. At that time he was with Mirassol and impressed so much that FC Tokyo signed him.

Marcelo Mattos has signed for Greek team Panathinaikos for 3 million euros on 6 July 2007 in a 4-year deal. In July 2008, Panathinaikos acquired the 85% of the players ownership for a fee of 3 million Euros. The rest of the player's percentage belongs to his agent, Pini Zahavi.