Sérgio Batata


Sérgio Leandro Seixas Santos known as Sérgio Batata or just Batata is a former Brazilian born Polish footballer who played as a defender or midfielder.

Football

In his youth Batata played for Clube Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro being brought to Poland by Antoni Ptak in 1997. He made his debut in Poland for ŁKS Łódź on 11 May 1997 against Polonia Warsaw. His career was mostly decided by Ptak, moving to clubs when it had been decided for him, which resulted in Batata playing for a total of 15 different Polish clubs. In 2003 then Polish manager, Paweł Janas, was impressed with Batata that he wanted him to play for the Poland national team, meaning Batata had to apply for Polish citizenship. Accepting Polish citizenship would mean he'd have to rescind his Brazilian citizenship, and was given his citizenship in 2006. By this point Janas was no longer manager and Batata had suffered a few major injuries impacting his playing time. His two major career successes were winning the Copa do Brasil in 1996 with Cruzeiro and the Ekstraklasa Cup in 2007–08 with Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski.
In the Polish leagues Batata made over 300 appearances in his career playing for; ŁKS Łódź, Piotrcovia Piotrków Trybunalski, Polonia Gdańsk, Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk, GKS Katowice, Pogon Szczecin, KSZO Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Widzew Łódź, Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Warta Poznań, Stal Niewiadów, Zawisza Bydgoszcz, Kotwica Kołobrzeg, Motor Lublin, and Chełmianka Chełm.

Honours

Cruzeiro
Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski