Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos

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Personal information
Cristiano Ávalos
Full name	Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos
Date of birth	December 27, 1977 (1977-12-27) (age 30)
Place of birth	Cascavel, Brazil
Height	183cm
Playing position	central-defender
Club information
Current club	São Caetano
Youth clubs
2000-2001	Paraná
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002 2003 2004 2004 2005-2006 2007-	Paraná Paraná Santos Samsung Bluewings Santos São Caetano	12 (0) 42 (5) 21 (1) 2 (0) 38 (1)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Cristiano Ávalos dos Passos or simply Cristiano Ávalos born December 27, 1977 in Cascavel, is a Brazilian central-defender. He currently plays for São Caetano after moving from Santos on August 21, 2007.[1]

His debut wasn't very exciting - he committed a controversial penalty against Santos' rivals, Corinthians, that was converted and led the game to a momentaneously tie. Luckily for him, his side won 3-1. But that year, 2004, he stole the first-team spot from André Luís as Santos won the National League for the last time.

Since then, he established himself as always-there option for the team's defence. In 2006, he rushed to play even with a shoulder injury as Santos had 3 of 4 central-defenders injured or suspended for the victorious final game of the São Paulo State Championship.

In 2007, although he was fourth on the pecking order, he refused a transfer deal to Sport. He was proved right. Ávalos managed to score the winner against MAC, when the coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo spared most of the regulars, and climbed up when veteran Antônio Carlos injured himself against Caracas FC and could not play the final São Paulo State Championship game. Santos ended up beating São Caetano by 2-0, winning the tournament. As Antônio Carlos seems to be retiring from the injury, he is expected to become a regular.

Ávalos is pacy, a good header and good tackler - when standing up. That because he sometimes throws himself on reckless tackles, that result on fouls from sometimes innocuous plays.