Felipe Santana

Figueirense

Having started his football career at Figueirense since 1996 and progressed through the club's youth system, Santana made his professional football debut for Figueirense, starting the whole game, in a 1–0 win against Paraná on 24 September 2006. On 18 November 2006, he made his second appearance of the season, in a 2–0 win against Flamengo. At the end of the 2006 season, Santana made two appearances in all competitions. At the start of the 2007 season, Santana began to establish himself in the first team place, playing in the centre–back position. On 3 July 2007, he scored his first goal of his professional career, in a 2–1 win over Cruzeiro. Two weeks later on 14 July 2007, Santana scored his second goal of the season, in a 2–1 win over Paraná. Twelve days later on 26 July 2007, he scored his third goal of the season, in a 2–2 draw against Corinthians. Santana helped the club keep four consecutive clean sheets between 4 October 2007 and 21 October 2007. At the end of the 2007 season, he went on to make thirty–six appearances and scoring three times in all competitions. In the opening game of the 2008 season, Santana scored a brace, in a 5–5 draw against Portuguesa, in what turned out to be his only appearance of the season.

Borussia Dortmund

On 16 May 2008, Santana joined Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, with a fee in the region of €2,000,000 and signed a five-year deal. Upon joining the club, Borussia Dortmund's sports manager Michael Zorc…

Santana is known for his strength, agility and aerial ability in defence. Santana was described in his early 20s by Brazilian experts as a "rising star". His defensive skills and his understanding of the game on the football pitch led to comparisons with defenders Lilian Thuram, Lúcio, and Naldo.

Atlético Catarinense

Being for a year without a team, in January 2023, Santana signed a contract with Atlético Catarinense.

As of 25 October 2021

Santana has stated that his mother is the "most important person" and support in his life. Though born in Brazil, Santana said he has settled in Germany, and applied for a German passport. In addition to speaking Portuguese, Santana speaks German, having learnt the language during his time in the country. Santana speaks a total of 8 languages (Portuguese, Spanish, German, Japanese, Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian and English). In November 2009, Santana and his teammate Lucas Barrios were diagnosed with H1N1 (Swine flu) virus that saw the pair being quickly vaccinated. In April 2014, Santana and his then teammate Sead Kolašinac were reprimanded and fined by Jens Keller and manager Horst Heldt after they were caught attending a nightclub at 3am. Santana is a motorcycle enthusiastic, saying: "Motorcycling is therapy for me. Out and about for hours, with friends, recently we were in a beautiful corner in the Sauerland. Splendid. This is my world. I can laugh and cry under the helmet." He also said about representing the Brazil national team, but acknowledged that due to the strong competitions in the national team squad, it was unlikely to happen. His performance at Schalke 04 led Der Westen to question his performance and wondered why Santana would recommend himself to be in the squad for the FIFA World Cup.