Melo, Araken de

Araken de Melo began his career at the Vasco da Gama club, in which he played for the youth squad, playing in the third division ^[4] . In 1964, the striker moved to the Uruguayan club Danubio . Two years later, the footballer became the top scorer of the national championship , scoring 12 goals ^[5] . The footballer was the first in the history of Danubio to win a similar title ^[6] . In 1968, Araken left for Argentina , in the club " Hurricane ". He made his team debut on March 10 in a match with Argentinos Juniors (0-0). On March 25, he scored his first goal for the club, hitting the gates of Gimnasia ^[7] . In total, in his first season in the team, he scored 10 goals ^[4] , becoming the second sniper of the tournament. For this club de Melo played until 1968. He spent 36 matches and scored 8 goals in the Metropolitan and 21 matches with 11 goals scored in Nacional; plus spent one match in the Argentine Cup and one meeting in the Tournament to reclassify the national championship ^[4] . On November 2, 1969, he scored the last goal for the club, hitting the goal of Kilmes , and on June 14, 1970 held his last match for Urakan against Khimnasiya ^[7] .

In 1972, de Melo went to Greece , to the Panathinaikos club, becoming the first Brazilian in the history of this team ^[4] . On September 17, he made his club debut in a match with Olympiacos from Volos and scored 2 goals, and his team won 6-3. In the team’s attack, he created a center of attack along with another South American , Juan Ramon Veron , and local player Antonis Antoniadis . Araken spent 37 matches in the club and scored 19 goals ^[4] , 18 matches and 11 goals in the first season and 19 matches and 8 goals in the second. The last club in the career of the Brazilian was Atromitos ^[8] .

Having completed his football career, de Melo left for Venezuela . There, he, along with his brother Arnout, opened, at the Central University of Venezuela, a football school called the “Brazil Soccer School” ^[4] . It trained children aged 4 to 14 years ^[9] . On October 17, 2001, Araken de Melo committed suicide in Caracas due to financial problems ^[4] . The school was led by his brother ^[9] .

• Uruguay Championship top scorer: 1966 (12 goals)

• Profile on bdfa.com.ar