Élder

Élder Alencar Machado de Campos (born 19 July 1976), known as Élder Campos or just Élder, is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current head coach of Santos' under-20 team.

Club career Born in Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Élder played for and Novorizontino as a youth. In 1995, after winning the 1994 Série C with the latter, he moved to Vasco da Gama.

On 15 August 1996, after playing the Campeonato Paulista back at Novorizontino, Élder signed for Santos. Despite being regularly used in the following years, he was unable to establish himself as an undisputed starter, and was loaned to Juventude on 23 April 1999.

Back to Santos for the 2000 season, Élder featured in two matches before moving to Inter de Limeira also on loan on 16 March of that year. In August, he moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing for PAS Giannina in Greece.

Back to Brazil, Élder spent a short period at Guarani before returning to Juventude for the 2002 campaign. In January 2003, he returned to Greece with Kallithea, but was rarely used and moved to Portuguesa.

Élder began the 2004 season at Criciúma, but moved to Sport Recife after playing in just one Série A match during the year. He left the latter in 2005, and spent a short period at América Mineiro before joining Hungarian side Lombard-Pápa.

Élder returned to his home country in 2007, signing for Juventus-SP. In December 2008, he moved to Santa Cruz, before joining Red Bull Brasil in the January 2010 and subsequently retiring after winning the Campeonato Paulista Série A3.

International career In 1995, Élder played in the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship for the Brazil national under-20 team.

Coaching career After retiring, Élder became the head coach of Santo André's under-15 team in 2013. In September 2015, he moved to Portuguesa Santista as the head coach of the under-11s, being later in charge of the under-15s and under-17s.

On 2 June 2020, after starting the year in charge of the under-20 team, Élder was announced as head coach of the first team of Portuguesa Santista. On 16 September, after three losses in as many matches, he was sacked.

On 20 October 2020, Élder returned to Santos as head coach of the under-17 squad. In July of the following year, he became an assistant of the under-20s, before being named head coach of the category in December ahead of the 2022 Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior.

In March 2022, Élder returned to the under-17 side of Peixe, after the arrival of Orlando Ribeiro in the under-20s. On 24 March 2026, he returned to the under-20 squad after Vinicius Marques was promoted to the first team.

Career statistics

Coaching statistics

Honours Player Novorizontino Campeonato Brasileiro Série C: 1994

Santos Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1997 Copa CONMEBOL: 1998

Red Bull Brasil Campeonato Paulista Série A3: 2010

Coach Santos 2024