Santos began his playing career as a midfielder for :pt:Clube de Campo Associação Atlética Guapira|Guapira. He went on to play for Paulista and América-MG.
Coaching career
Santos began his coaching career with :pt:Esporte Clube Banespa|Banespa's youth team in 1985 and later went on to coach their first team where he won the Troféu Cidade de São Paulo which was his first title as a manager. His second trophy came in 2000 when he led Corinthians Paulista B to the :es:Copa Chivas|Copa Chivas title. He won his third honour in 2004, leading ADAP to the Campeonato do Interior Paranaense Série Ouro title. He coached Brazilian teams in various professional leagues in the late 2000s and early 2010s including coaching ADAP in the :pt:Campeonato Paranaense de Futebol de 2005|2005 Campeonato Paranaense, Cascavel in the :pt:Campeonato Paranaense de Futebol de 2007|2007 Campeonato Paranaense, Roma Apucarana in the 2008 Copa do Brasil, Central in the 2009 Campeonato Pernambucano, Canoas in the 2010 Campeonato Gaúcho and Treze in the 2013 Campeonato Paraibano. After 28 years of coaching in Brazil, Santos took up a new job as he was appointed manager of Iraqi Premier League champions Al-Shorta. He coached them through their 2014 AFC Champions League qualifying campaign and their 2014 AFC Cup group stage campaign but the club was eliminated from both tournaments. However, Santos successfully led Al-Shorta to their second consecutive league title, being crowned winners of the 2013–14 Iraqi Premier League with 43 points from 21 matches. This made Santos the first ever coach from outside of Asia to win the Iraqi top division title. He received a Certificate of Merit for achieving an unprecedented feat of most consecutive wins against the club's rival teams, as his team achieved seven wins from seven matches against Al-Zawraa, Duhok, Erbil, Al-Talaba, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya and Amanat Baghdad until the streak was ended with a 2–2 draw against Duhok. He was the coach who gave Mohanad Ali his debut in the Baghdad Derby against Al-Talaba on 26 March 2014 which made Mohanad the youngest player in Al-Shorta's history at only 13 years old. He then returned to coaching in Brazil and most recently managed Cascavel in their first five 2019 Campeonato Paranaense matches, achieving two wins and three losses.
