Cacau

Early career

Cacau's career in Germany started with fifth-division side Türkgücü München in the 1999–2000 season, after which he went on to join 1. FC Nürnberg's reserve team. Following his good performances with the reserves, he was given his Bundesliga debut against Hansa Rostock on 18 November 2001. In only his second Bundesliga match, against Bayer Leverkusen on 8 December 2001, he scored two goals in Nürnberg's 4–2 defeat. He finished his first Bundesliga season with 6 goals in 17 appearances, but failed to repeat the success the following season, when he only scored 2 goals in 27 appearances and Nürnberg were relegated.

VfB Stuttgart

Having already signed a contract with VfB Stuttgart in January 2003, Cacau joined the club for the 2003–04 season. In his first season with Stuttgart, he also made four appearances in the UEFA Champions League In the 2004–05 season, he scored 12 Bundesliga goals and was the club's second-best goalscorer. In the first part of the same season, he also had a successful UEFA Cup campaign, netting three consecutive braces in Stuttgart's first three matches of the competition. After an unsuccessful season in 2005–06, in which he only scored four Bundesliga goals for Stuttgart, he went on to be one of the key players in the club's run to the league title in 2007, once again becoming their second-best goalscorer with 13 goals, crucially netting both goals in their 2–0 win over Bayern Munich as well as the winning goal in a 3–2…

Although Cacau was born in Brazil, he was never called up by the Brazil national team. In February 2009, he became eligible to play for Germany after he acquired a German passport having lived and played in Germany for over eight years. On 19 May 2009, Cacau was called up to the Germany national team's coach Joachim Löw for their friendly matches against China and the United Arab Emirates. He made his international debut on 29 May 2009 in Germany's 1–1 draw against China, playing 27 minutes as a substitute for Mario Gómez. He also appeared in Germany's 7–2 win against the UAE four days later, playing the entire second half as a substitute for Lukas Podolski and providing an assist for Mario Gómez's third and Germany's fifth goal of the match just over a minute into the second half. He opened his account with the Germany national team, scoring a brace in a 3–0 win over Malta on 13 May 2010. He scored his first International goal for Germany in the group stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on 13 June 2010, coming on as a substitute against Australia, and scoring in 1:52 to make it 4–0. He later received a yellow card for diving in the match. After Miroslav Klose had been sent off against Serbia, Cacau played against Ghana but could not score in the 1–0 win. In the third-place World Cup game, Germany faced Uruguay on 10 July. He started for his German side but was eventually substituted out as Germany defeated Uruguay 3–2, taking third place at the World Cup. Cacau remained…

Club

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cacau goal.

Cacau's brother Vlademir Jeronimo Barreto, more commonly known as simply Vlademir, is also a former footballer and lives in Mogi das Cruzes. Cacau is a committed Christian and says his faith is a big part of his life. Since his naturalization as a German citizen in early 2009, Cacau's nickname at VfB Stuttgart (and later also at the Germany national team) is Helmut. This nickname was given to him by his Swiss Stuttgart teammate at the time, Ludovic Magnin, who stated that, as a German, Cacau should also have a proper German name. In 2021, he featured in Schwarze Adler, a documentary detailing the experiences of Black players in German professional football.