Born in Campina Grande, Paraíba, Marcelinho Paraiba began his career in Campinense, where he won two league titles there. Between 1994 and 1995, he played for Santos. Two years later, however, he made his breakthrough at São Paulo, where he won two Paulistões before being sold to Marseille. He only spent a year in France, and in 2001 he returned to Brazil to play for Grêmio, where he began to experience the pinnacle of his career. At that time, Marcelinho Paraiba was called "Marcelinho Paraúcho" by Gremistas, because of his passage in the team. He became champion and top scorer of the Campeonato Gaúcho, and champion of the Copa do Brasil, where he scored a goal in the second game in the final against Corinthians, but did not play in the league that year because before the tournament, he signed a five-year contract with Hertha BSC. Marcelinho played for Hertha from 2001 to 2006. He is ranked among the most important players in the association's history and there Marcelinho was known as a technically talented player, serving as a playmaker and leader while performing in both the midfield and forward area. In addition, he carried the responsibility of executing the free kicks, corner kicks, and penalty kicks of the club. The personal trademarks of this extravagant football player are his usually remarkable shoes and his often multicoloured hair. He was capped fives times for the Brazil national football team, for which he scored once. At the beginning of the 2006–07 season, he arbitrarily extended his off-season vacation by nine days, which led to some slight tension with the Hertha association management. After Marcelinho had expressed himself, in the following the days, contradictory statements as to whether he wanted to remain at Hertha or not, he ended his term with them, signing a three-year contract with Turkish club Trabzonspor for approximately 2.5 million euros. In August 2008, Marcelinho Paraíba returned to Brazil to play for Flamengo. On 6 March 2009, Coritiba signed the forward on a free transfer until the end of the year, as Marcelinho terminated his contract with Flamengo. After the relegation of Coritiba, he re-signed for São Paulo on 18 December 2009. On 9 August 2010 he was loaned to Sport till the end of the 2010 season and his contract was extended to the end of the 2011 season. Marcelinho subsequently represented Sport, Boa Esporte, Fortaleza, Internacional de Lages, Joinville, Oeste, Ypiranga de ErechimTreze and Portuguesa.
