Cacau (Full Name: Claudemir Barretto) born Mars 27, 1981 in Santo Andre, Brazil is a Brazilian footballer playing in German team and VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga.


This Brazilian-born striker was picked to play for the Nationalmannschaft shortly after acquiring German citizenship in the spring of 2009. His key attributes are his pace, clever movement - particularly when running from deep positions - inventiveness and his right-footed finishing. However, he is only average in the air and that is an area he needs to improve before he moves into the top class category.

Cacau owes his nom de plume to his inability as a child to pronounce his first name as Claudemir. His amended version was easier to pronounce, so he has stuck with it. He is one of a legion of Brazilian players with Christian beliefs and he is one of only two born in the South American country to represent Germany. The other was Paulo Rink in 1998.

Cacau's big break came when spotted by German top-flight outfit Nurnberg in 2001. He joined Stuttgart in January 2003 and made two appearances in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign. "I like the options Cacau can give us," claims Germany boss Joachim Low.