Hilton, who was a 24-year-old football player when he came to Europe from Brazil in 2001, I am sure he did not imagine that he would be competing in a top-level league until he was 42.
After playing for Chapecoense and Parana in Brazil, he attracted the attention of Swiss team Servette and played for the Swiss team for 2.5 years. While playing for Servette, he was loaned to Bastia in the 2004 winter transfer period, but at that time he was overshadowed by the transfers of Bartholomew Ogbeche, also loaned from PSG, and Philippe Delaye, loaned from Rennes.
Hilton was actually showing the trailer of his entire career to French football fans in those days. The work he did, which remained in the background, was heavy but light at the expense. He played in almost all matches in Bastia until the end of the season and was transferred to Lens, one of the northern teams of France, at the end of the season.
Vitorino Hilton da Silva (born 13 September 1977), commonly known as Vitorino Hilton or just Hilton, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. In October 2021 Hilton stated his desire to return to playing. After training with Béziers, he joined Championnat National club Sète on a five-month contract on 1 February 2022.
''Black Diamond Hilton''
The player, who spent four wonderful seasons with Lens, said of those days in an interview with Eurosport: “It was a great club where I felt great. "The four years I spent at Lens were the best times of my career," he said. While the Brazilian player did a great job in the yellow-red jersey, he even managed to be selected for the team of the year in Ligue 1 in his last two seasons at the club. He quickly became one of the permanent players in the football team of this small city known for its coal mines in the 19th century. Coal is called a 'black diamond', in fact, Brazilian Hilton was shining like a 'black diamond' in the Lens team; It stood out. Marseille, one of the teams in the south of France, noticed this and added the Brazilian player to their squad for 5 million Euros after Lens was relegated.
First championship and Marseille days
The Brazilian defender, who had evolved into an experienced player at the age of 30, was continuing where he left off in his first season in the south. While Marseille, which lost the championship to Bordeaux, finished the league second, Hilton would again be in the team of the year in Ligue 1. Didier Deschamps, who took over the team after Gerets at the beginning of the 20019-10 season, would lead Marseille to the championship in Ligue 1, but Hilton would not be preferred. After the season ended with league and cup victories, Hilton lost his place in the first 11 and became a rotation player. Over time, things would get worse and Hilton would leave Marseille and transfer to Montpellier in the summer of 2011.
He was taken hostage in an armed robbery, his house was robbed
An event that accelerated Hilton's departure from Marseille occurred in June 2011. Hilton, who was staying with his 10 relatives in his house in Marseille, was at home with his family members when 6 armed thieves entered the house at midnight. After being taken hostage, cash and all valuables found in the house, including cameras, computers, and jewelry, were stolen. Masked thieves thus accelerated the departure process of the 33-year-old football player, who did not have the chance to play in Marseille anyway. The club gave special permission for the Brazilian, whose contract is still ongoing, to leave.
Like Hilton, Lucho Gonzalez, another foreign player on the team, was attacked by an armed group in Marseille 2-3 months before this incident and suffered severe trauma. Didier Deschamps, Marseille coach at the time, would summarize the situation by saying, "Psychologically traumatic, terrible things."
Fairy Tale: Montpellier
In his first season with Montpellier in the 2011-12 season, he won a championship that stunned the whole world. These were the years when Qatar's capital had not yet penetrated the cells of Ligue 1. It was almost the year of the last exit before the bridge, just before the start of the capital team's hegemony that would last for years. Carlo Ancelotti took over the PSG team at halftime, but narrowly missed the championship by 3 points.
Hilton has been the team's constant player throughout this fairytale-like season. The Brazilian player commented on his transfer to Montpellier and the championship issue as follows: “I was 33 years old and no one believed in me. Maybe they thought I was getting old. Montpellier gave me the chance to play football again. I enjoyed playing football. My last year in Marseille was very difficult for me. I had played very little and Deschamps did not trust me. “I had an extraordinary season and I can say that I had a big share in the championship this time (the first Marseille).
There were also familiar names in Montpellier's champion squad at that time. Hasan Kabze, Olivier Giroud, John Utaka, Younes Belhanda and now Bengali-Fode Koita are some of them.
While Hilton signed a two-year contract with Montpellier, he had a free departure clause in case they were relegated that season. Looking back now, no one, including the Brazilian player himself, could have said that he would play for this club until the age of 42. Easy to say, exactly 9 years. And every season, a player who was called 'this season is the last year' continued to upset everyone.
In his interview with Le Parisien, Hilton shares the secrets of being dynamic and stable at this age as follows:
“I don't drink alcohol or smoke. I don't spend nights in nightclubs like other football players. “I eat healthy and I sleep eight hours a day.”