Vinícius Bergantin
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Vinícius Bergantin | ||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Hannover 96 | ||
| Number | 2 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 July 2007 | |||
Vinícius Bergantin (born July 31, 1980) is a Brazilian football player of Italian descent, currently at Hannover 96.
Vinícius began his career at the academy of Ituano Futebol Clube in 1998 and signed a professional deal at the club in 2000 after impressing the coaching staff there. His first and only season at the club was very successful, as he impressed many with his ability to make forward runs and finished the season with three league goals in twenty-four appearances. This good form attracted the interest of other clubs, including Associação Desportiva São Caetano, who signed him in 2001.
However Vinícius rarely featured for São Caetano, making just two league appearances and scoring once. In 2002 he was signed by Sociedade Gama. Here he regularly made appearances for the club, taking part in nineteen games in the league without scoring. He was showing a lot of potential and European clubs began to show an interest. Gama agreed to loan Vinícius out to German Bundesliga outfit Hannover 96 for the 2002-03 season. He made seventeen appearances, scoring twice during this loan spell and impressed the manager at the time. Hannover signed Vinícius for £700,000 in 2003.
He currently remains at Hannover and makes regular appearances in the first team.