Born in
Montalvânia,
Minas Gerais, Elias started playing professionally with lowly
Grêmio Inhumense. He joined
FC Porto in 2001, but played mostly for
their reserves during his two-year stint; he appeared once for the first team, featuring the last 13 minutes of a 3–2 home win against
Varzim S.C. on 17 May 2003 after
taking the place of
Clayton. In the
2004–05 season, after a brief spell back in his country with
Sport Club Corinthians Alagoano, Elias moved back to
Portugal, successively representing in the
Primeira Liga G.D. Estoril Praia,
Gil Vicente FC,
F.C. Paços de Ferreira,
Vitória de Setúbal,
U.D. Leiria and
Portimonense SC. With Vitória he
won the
domestic League Cup, playing the entire
penalty shootout win against
Sporting CP and converting his attempt. On 22 December 2011, Elias joined
PFC Beroe Stara Zagora in
Bulgaria on a
free transfer, signing a one-and-a-half-year contract. He made his league debut on 3 March of the following year, in a 0–3 away loss to
PFC Ludogorets Razgrad. On 2 April 2018, Elias was announced as
player-coach of
FC Vereya until end of
the season, succeeding
Blagomir Mitrev. On 21 February 2020, the
Football Federation of Armenia announced that
FC Yerevan had withdrawn from the league due to financial and technical problems. ==Honours==