Ex-Corinthians defender looks back on club journey, reveals career secrets

In partnership with

Central do Timão

·20 novembre 2025

Ex-Corinthians defender looks back on club journey, reveals career secrets

By Henrique Pereira / Central do Timão Editorial Team

World champion in 2012 and a key player in the 2015 Brazilian title, former defender Felipe Augusto, who announced his retirement at the beginning of 2024, gave an interview to Meu Timão. The former Corinthians player revisited his football career, recalled decisive moments, and commented on his relationship with the black-and-white fans.

At the beginning of the interview, Felipe shared how he is usually recognized by fans and which club he feels most connected to. Asked if he is the Felipe from Corinthians, Porto, or Atlético de Madrid, he replied without hesitation. “Here in Brazil, from Corinthians, in Portugal, from Porto (laughs), but my strongest connection is with Corinthians because it's where I live, my big Brazil. So, it's something I have a very good connection with, I like it, I suffer now, anyway”, he declared.

Vidéos OneFootball

Photo: © Daniel Augusto Jr. / Ag. Corinthians

The former player also revisited his origins before joining the professional ranks, recalling the exhausting work routine before getting a chance at União Mogi. “Before going to União Mogi, I worked at a market, a big market (…). I would wake up at 3:40 AM, then balance it with training and studying. We would leave here at 3:40 to load, and then I would leave there around 7 AM to make deliveries to restaurants. Then I would return and arrive here after 1:30 PM, more or less. The training sessions were in the afternoon, I trained in the afternoon, ran… But everything worked out well, right?”.

Felipe explained that his first real opportunity came at Valtra, where he was paid per game, until he received the proposal to go professional. He recounted how he made the decision and revealed the director's reaction. “The director of Valtra (…) said: ‘Felipe, here's the thing, do you want to stay at Valtra, earning per game and all, or do you want to go professional and play at União Mogi?’. Then I said: ‘to play professionally, that's what I want, I don't know, try my luck there, right’’. And then he agreed, even though he was against it: ‘no, it's okay’. He registered me (in União's professional team). I didn't earn a cent. There was (registered) a minimum wage, but I never earned anything. And then I started playing for União Mogi”.

Later on, he recalled how he caught Corinthians' attention while standing out for Bragantino in Serie B, especially in a match observed by Fábio Carille.

“When I started playing the Brazilian Championship (Serie B), with about ten matches I had already played for Bragantino, Carille went to watch a game, which I don't remember (…) He went there to see a defender, when Corinthians needed a defender, and he went to observe. Then when he said the game started and all, he was observing the defender, sitting and everything, then there was a ball that, boom, was launched like that, the attacker got ahead of me and I caught up. Then he looked like this… ‘The kid is fast’. Okay, the game continued, then a ball, boom, high like that, I come, I tackle. Then he looked, then he started to move away from the defender he was interested in, changed focus… He kept looking at me. He said I destroyed that game. I took the ball, made the line and everything.”, he said.

“That's when he called the guys, said, ‘look, there's a defender here at Bragantino, good, but of course, needs polishing, a lot of things and all, but has potential, has potential’. And it was there, about ten matches (of Bragantino), that I already knew Corinthians was interested. The interest started, Corinthians, then other clubs started to come… That started to get to me. ‘A year ago I was at União Mogi, now there's Corinthians’. A very crazy thing, right? Surreal. Like, I never had a base, it happened just like that, all of a sudden. Even because many of my friends only found out I was at Corinthians when I went to the World Cup. The guys: ‘oh, crazy!’. They called me. Like, they didn't even know because I was playing in the amateur leagues”, he recounted.

Felipe also remembered the moment he finished the season with Bragantino and reported to Timão, fulfilling the dream of being a professional. Recalling his arrival at the training center, Felipe highlighted the impact of living with established athletes and how he was welcomed by his teammates.

“The year ended, I played the 34 games (in Serie B, for Bragantino) and went to report in 2012 at Corinthians. It was crazy because, like I said, I always liked sports a lot. I played basketball, played volleyball, skateboarded, everything, everything in my life. I received offers to play basketball, offers to play volleyball, offers to skateboard. I turned everything down. If it's (to be professional), it will only be for football.”, he revealed.

“When I got there at Corinthians, in 2012, the first one to welcome me was Chicão. ‘Hey, Felipe, welcome’. Like, the guy said my name. Wow, my brother, the guy from Mogi, from the countryside, that already scares me… And everyone welcomed me, treating me super well. And then I was like, wow, man, what madness is this, right, man? Like, the guys know who I am and all. Anyway, then they started treating me super well and everything. And then I arrived, as I said, I didn't have a base, I arrived with a lot of difficulty. But you could see that everyone wanted to help me. It was in my head: ‘wow, man, I need to improve, I need to improve’.”, he continued.

He reported that the technical support from Tite, Carille, and Paulo André was essential for his development and adaptation to the level required by Corinthians. “But everyone was already aware. But I had this pressure. So, the one who always called me and said: ‘hey, calm down, stay calm’, was Carille. Tite talked a lot with me about this. And then there's Paulo André, who was the guy I stayed with a lot. The guys already knew, they were aware of that. But for me, it was complicated because I said: ‘Wow, I had a decent season at Bragantino, I get here, I can't pass a ball’. But, anyway, everyone treating me super well and all, I started to improve. Everyone guiding me. ‘Hey, do this, do this here’. I started to get a little more confident.”

The former defender also revealed how he received the news of his registration for the Club World Cup, an experience that marked his career forever.

“And then Tite calls me. He said: ‘look, about the World Cup, we're going to take so many athletes and from what I see here, I want you to understand, it's not out of pity, it's not for anything, it's on merit that I'm going to take you’. Damn, that gave me something that I said ‘my God’. Because I wasn't counting (on the World Cup registration), honestly. I wasn't counting. I'm not one to cry like that, you know? But, man, I got goosebumps all over. At the same time, a fear. Anyway, I trained with everyone. I participated. I was a world champion. So, I can say that I'm blessed.”

Between 2013 and 2014, Felipe was still seeking stability at the club and dealing with natural difficulties for someone who didn't have a youth academy background. According to him, the environment created by Tite was crucial for his development during that period.

“In 2013, I started playing the Paulista Championship. Tite saw an opportunity to put the boys in. He put me, Giovanni at the time, even Zizao played a game. And then I started playing a little more, but still, I had a lot of difficulties. He knew that, Tite knew. How was I going to improve? It's not just training, you need games, we need to understand the role, how the athlete moves… Every game is different. Then he started putting me in a little more. He put me in a game, then after a while, he put me in another game, he saw the right opportunity. I played little in 2012, then in 2013, a few more games. Then, in 2014, I was already playing more because Mano Menezes came. He supported me a little more, but even so, I was still associating a lot of things.”, he commented.

The athlete recounted that 2014 was a complex year emotionally, with heavy criticism and a lack of confidence. He revealed that he needed to shield himself to regain focus.

“In 2014, I played more and it was where I had more difficulty because I didn't understand the process (…) It was that nervousness. The ball comes and you're already nervous. The first pass goes wrong, you've already messed up your head… And that started happening in some specific games. And then, man, the crowd comes, right? A flood of things (criticism). That Instagram thing started, it was all very new. I opened sports, opened television, everything I saw, newspaper, I don't know what, was criticizing me. That affects you. It affects a lot. But then I started to understand, for example, I sat down, talked to my dad, I talked to my wife and everything. My dad says: ‘hey, close Instagram’. My wife also said, stop looking at these things and ‘let's go’. I took it, blocked it, left it closed, didn't see anything anymore. And I started training. Then I saw that I started to improve in training. I said: ‘Wow, it's working’.”

Even in the face of criticism, Felipe began to show improvement and received offers from other clubs, in addition to having the support of Corinthians itself to continue.

“At the end of 2014, I started to play more. But before that, I had already received an offer from Atlético Paranaense to leave, I had received an offer from Flamengo and, if I'm not mistaken, Cruzeiro at the time. But then Edu Gaspar calls me: ‘your moment will come, your time will come’. We want to play… He: ‘man, you've evolved a lot’. I remember my contract changed a lot, right, it was every month, every year it gave, it was a little upgrade, and then I remember they renewed with me. So, like, I said, ‘wow, in the middle of this difficulty (and they still renewed)’… So that made me believe more. I started working, working, working. I started to focus more, and training, training and, even with this difficulty, playing, playing”, he stated.

The definitive turning point occurred in 2015, with Tite's return. Felipe said he felt ready and that the coach confirmed this confidence right in the first training sessions.

“Then it comes, 2014 ends, 2015 arrives and Tite returns. At the end of (14) I started to do very well. Edu Gaspar came to me before Tite arrived, said: ‘Felipe, here's the thing, you're very prepared, you're already doing very well, do you feel that?’. Then I said: ‘I feel it, I'm much calmer’. Then he said: ‘okay, Tite will arrive, I'll talk to him that you're prepared, okay?’. Like, just to see what I was, I said: ‘that's it, let's go’.”, he said.

“Tite arrived, we had the conversation. On the second day of training, Tite came to me and said: ‘are you ready?’. Very close like that, right, looking in the eye. Then I said: ‘I am’. He: ‘then you're going to play’. Anyway, then I started training well. He already saw that I was completely different, the style of training… And then he supported me in the pre-Libertadores, which was that game against Once Caldas, where I come and score the goal. He pulls the whole video and all, he says: ‘I didn't say, I said, I said to everyone’, because I had a mass of critics and he supported me and it worked. And that's where my saga really started, let's say, at Corinthians. It was overcoming”, he concluded.

See more: