Dante

**Dante Bonfim Costa Santos** (born 18 October 1983), commonly known as **Dante** (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈdɐ̃tʃi]), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for French club Nice. Primarily a central defender, he has previously also been used as a defensive midfielder or a left back.[3][4]

Produced at Juventude, Dante went on to play for Lille, Charleroi and Standard Liège, winning the Belgian Pro League with the latter. In January 2009, he was signed by Borussia Mönchengladbach, spending two-and-a-half seasons before making a €4.7 million move to Bayern Munich, where he won nine domestic and international honours.

Dante made his international debut for Brazil in 2013, winning that year's Confederations Cup and representing the nation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

## Club career

### Early career

Dante joined Juventude's
 youth system in 2001 and by 2002 became a part of the club's first team
 setup. In 2004, he made his move to European football, signing for Lille in France. After two seasons with the club where he only featured in 12 league games, Dante moved to Belgium, signing for Charleroi in 2006. After a successful campaign in the Belgian Pro League
 for Charleroi where he made 27 appearances and helped the club to a
respectable fifth-place finish, he moved across the country to Standard Liège.[5]

Dante had a successful debut season with the Belgian giants, as
Standard were crowned league champions; the Brazilian defender proving
to be an integral member, missing just one league match.[6]
 In his second season with Standard, he featured in the first 15 league
matches of the campaign before interest from Germany sent the player to
the Bundesliga.[7]

### Borussia Mönchengladbach

Dante training with Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2011

Dante joined German side Borussia Mönchengladbach on 27 December 2008 for an undisclosed transfer fee, signing a contract with the club until summer 2013.[7] He made his debut for the club on 20 March 2009, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 loss to fellow strugglers VfL Bochum.[8] His first goal for the club came against eventual champions VfL Wolfsburg on 11 April but it came in a losing effort as 'Gladbach fell 2–1 thanks to a late strike by defender Sascha Riether.[9] The Brazilian scored a dramatic late winner against Energie Cottbus on 13 May, heading in a cross from winger Marko Marin to give the club a 1–0 win in the 91st minute.[10] On the final day of the Bundesliga season on 23 May 2009, Dante scored 'Gladbach's only goal in a 1–1 draw with Borussia Dortmund, a point which meant the club avoided immediate relegation to the 2. Bundesliga.[11]

In the opening fixture of the 2009–10 Bundesliga
 campaign on 9 August 2009, Dante received a red card for a bad foul as
Mönchengladbach relinquished a 3–0 lead against VfL Bochum, drawing 3–3.[12]
 He scored his first goal of the campaign on 31 October, heading home a
corner in the 76th minute to draw the match level at 2–2 and an
82nd-minute strike from Rob Friend handed 'Gladbach a 3–2 victory over Hamburger SV.[13] On 9 April 2010, Dante headed in a free-kick from Juan Arango to double 'Gladbach's lead, resulting in a 2–0 defeat of Eintracht Frankfurt that all but secured Bundesliga survival.[14]

The 2010–11 campaign
 proved to be another difficult campaign for 'Gladbach. Dante only
featured in 17 league matches as he battled against persistent injury
and the club finished in 16th place, the relegation play-off spot.[15]
 However, Dante did play the full 90 minutes in each play-off match
against VfL Bochum as Borussia Mönchengladbach managed a 2–1 aggregate
victory to remain in the German top flight for the 2011–12 season.[16]

The following season proved much more successful as Dante
featured in 38 matches in all competitions, playing the full 90 minutes
in each. In January 2012, he hinted he could leave the club before his
contract expired in June 2014, revealing to the press he desired to play
 for a top club in Germany, singling out Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen.[17] Dante was influential as the club made a run to the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal where the club lost 4–2 on penalties to Bayern Munich on 21 March 2012, with Dante and Håvard Nordtveit missing their penalties to give Bayern a spot in the final with champions Borussia Dortmund.[18]

### Bayern Munich

On 26 April 2012, Dante agreed to join Bayern Munich at the start of the 2012–13 season for an estimated transfer fee of €4.7 million.[19]

#### 2012–13

Dante's first appearance for the club came in the DFL-Supercup on 12 August 2012, starting at centre-back in Bayern's 2–1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund.[20]
 He made his Bundesliga debut for the Bavarian giants on 25 August as
Bayern cruised to a 3–0 opening day victory over promoted side Greuther Fürth.[21] He scored his first competitive goal for the team in a 5–0 thrashing of Hannover 96 on 24 November 2012.[22] Dante made an immediate impact at Bayern, earning a place in the starting 11 and forming partnerships with the interchanging Holger Badstuber, Daniel Van Buyten and Jérôme Boateng in the centre of defence.[23]

Following the defender's impressive start with *Die Roten*, head coach Jupp Heynckes told media Dante was one of the first names on the team sheet, with club captain Phillip Lahm supporting the manager's sentiments: "Dante is one of the best defenders I've ever played with."[24]
 He secured his first Bundesliga title since moving to Germany after a
1–0 defeat of Eintracht Frankfurt on 6 April 2013 and was seen
celebrating with the supporters in the stands following the result.[25][26] In the Champions League
 final against Borussia Dortmund, Dante conceded a penalty for a rash
challenge but failed to receive a red card in an entertaining 2–1
victory for the Bavarians.[27]

With Dante at the heart the defence, Bayern broke records for fewest goals conceded and most clean sheets in a Bundesliga season during their treble-winning campaign.[28]

#### 2013–14

In new manager Pep Guardiola's first Bundesliga match, against Dante's former club Borussia Mönchengladbach, Dante scored an own goal after a mix-up with goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. The match nonetheless ended in a 3–1 victory for Bayern.[29]

On 21 December 2013, Dante scored the opening goal as Bayern beat Raja Casablanca 2–0 in the final of the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup.[30]

In February 2014, Dante scored three goals in the space of four
matches for Bayern, in Bundesliga wins over Eintracht Frankfurt (5–0)[31] and SC Freiburg (4–0)[32] and a DFB-Pokal victory over Hamburger SV (5–0).[33]

On 24 March 2014, Dante extended his contract with Bayern until June 2017.[34]

### VfL Wolfsburg

On 30 August 2015, Dante agreed to move to VfL Wolfsburg for an undisclosed transfer fee.[35] On 13 January 2016, Dante injured teammate Bas Dost in training.[36]

### Nice

On 22 August 2016, VfL Wolfsburg announced the departure of Dante to French Ligue 1 side Nice, with which he signed a three-year contract.[37] On 18 February 2018, he scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw with Nantes.[38]

## Fan culture

In
 his time at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Dante was well known for his
hair, becoming a cult hero with Borussia fans regularly sporting large afro wigs as an homage to their favourite player.[39] Bayern fans quickly continued this tradition after the defender's move to Munich.[40]

## International career

Dante (# 13) at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Dante received his first call-up to the Brazil national team on 21 January 2013 by returning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to be part of the squad for a friendly against England, on 6 February at Wembley Stadium.[41] He started the game, which England won 2–1 after goals from Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard.[42]

On 22 June 2013, he scored his first international goal in the final group match of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, against Italy at the stroke of half-time, after coming on as a substitute for David Luiz on the 33rd minute.[43]

Dante was a member of Brazil's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, making his only appearance in the semi-final as a replacement for the suspended captain Thiago Silva, as the *Seleção* were defeated by Germany in a record 7–1 scoreline.[44]

In a comment regarding the defeat, he said he has "been treated with 'less respect'".[45]