Brazil Felipe Melo began his career for
Flamengo, where he made 69 appearances and scored no goals in his two-season spell with the club. Following impressive performances with Flamengo, Melo transferred to
Cruzeiro in the summer of 2003, but would remain for just one season. In his single season with Cruzeiro, Melo managed to make 31 league appearances, scoring two goals. Following yet another impressive season in Brazil, he was sold to
Grêmio. Following his transfer to Grêmio, Melo managed to make an additional 19 appearances and adding three goals to his tally in his native Brazil. He would only remain in
Porto Alegre for 2004, because Grêmio was relegated that year and the team was dismantled.
Spain In January 2005, Felipe Melo moved abroad for the first time, joining Spanish
La Liga club
Mallorca, who released
Andrija Delibašić to give him a place. He played only eight times for the
Balearic team, his season ending through knee ligament injury against
Valencia in March; they narrowly avoided relegation. Ahead of the 2005–06 season, Melo moved to fellow league team
Racing de Santander. He scored his first goal for them on 21 December, in a 2–1 win away to
Real Madrid at the
Santiago Bernabéu. On 3 July 2007, Felipe Melo became
Almería's first signing ahead of their debut top-flight season. The transfer, which involved buying some of his rights from a
third-party owner, was the most expensive in the club's history. He was a regular in midfield for
Unai Emery's team, contributing seven goals as the
Andalusians finished 8th.
Fiorentina After a successful first season at Almería, Felipe Melo agreed to transfer to Italian side Fiorentina in a reported €13 million transfer for the
2008–09 season. Having held Spanish nationality since the 2007–08 season, he was not counted as a non-EU player in the Italian Serie A. He made his debut in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the
UEFA Champions League against
Slavia Prague, and scored his first goal in a
Viola shirt against
Atalanta in the Serie A. After a very impressive debut season in the Serie A, which included 29 appearances and two goals, the Brazilian transferred to
Juventus in
Turin.
Juventus in 2009 On 30 June 2009, following a lauded performance with Brazil at the
2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, Felipe Melo signed a new five-year contract with Fiorentina, with a release clause of €25 million. At this point,
Arsenal was reportedly in negotiations to sign the player. Within days, however, Melo was the subject of a bid from Juventus. The two
rival clubs eventually agreed a fee of €25 million in total and Juve's
Marco Marchionni joined Fiorentina on 15 July 2009 for a tagged price of €4.5 million. Later,
Cristiano Zanetti, tagged for €2 million, re-joined Fiorentina. This allowed Juve to pay Fiorentina €18.5 million in three instalments. The first half of the
2009–10 season was one to forget despite a bright start to his Juve career. He scored his first Juve goal against top-of-the-table rivals
Roma in a 3–1 win. In the December
Derby d'Italia fixture at home, he was controversially sent off for a supposed elbow at
Inter Milan's
Mario Balotelli. The incident sparked a fiery argument between his teammate
Gianluigi Buffon and Inter midfielder
Thiago Motta, and both had to be separated by Inter and Juve players. Due to his poor performances throughout the season, he won the
Bidone d'Oro Award in 2009, which was given to the worst Serie A player during a particular season. Melo was instrumental in his side's win over
A.C. Milan at the
San Siro in the
2010–11 season, and was later voted man of the match.
Galatasaray in 2014 On 22 July 2011, Felipe Melo joined
Galatasaray in Turkey on a season-long loan deal for €1.5 million, with an option to transfer permanently at the end of the season for €13 million. He agreed on a contract with a net annual salary of €3.3 million plus a per-appearance bonus of €30,000, replacing departed
Lorik Cana as the club's new central midfielder. He was attributed to the nickname "Pitbull" by the team supporters because of his passionate playing style, which also helped him become a fans favourite quickly; it is said that he displayed the mutual respect back with his tattoo of the club's mascot, a lion, on his arm. This is not true, however, because in his own statement, he states that this is a coincidence and that he got the tattoo due to the fact that in Brazil, a lion is a symbol for Jesus Christ. Felipe Melo scored his first goal on 18 September 2011 from a 35-metre-long shot against
Samsunspor. He scored 12 goals in 36 league matches, and at the end of the season, he was among the champion squad. Felipe Melo had been expected to make a permanent move to Galatasaray, but on 24 July, transfer fee negotiations between the club and Juventus broke down due to the Turkish club requesting a lower fee for the player. On 14 August, the two clubs were able to agree another loan deal sending Melo to Turkey for the
2012–13 season, for €1.75 million, with the agreement including "the option, to be exercised by Galatasaray by 30 April 2013, for the permanent acquisition of the player for a price of €6.5 million". Melo also had a wage cut to €2.9 million with an appearances-based bonus of €25,000. On 24 November, in a game between Galatasaray and
Elazığspor in the
Süper Lig, Felipe Melo
went in goal and saved a penalty, after regular keeper
Fernando Muslera had committed a foul and been sent off after Galatasaray had already used all their substitutions. On 20 July 2013, Felipe Melo made a permanent move to Galatasaray on a three-year contract worth €3.1 million plus bonuses, while the transfer fee was reduced to €3.75 million plus bonuses of a maximum €500,000, which the club activated. He made his 100th appearance for the club on 2 February 2014 in Süper Lig encounter against
Bursaspor in a 6–0 home win. On 13 August 2015, Melo signed a four-year contract extension; during the first season of said contract, the yearly salary remained unchanged at €3.1 million, but was set to be reduced to €2.6 million for next three seasons. As of 2015, he is the most decorated Brazilian player in Turkish domestic competitions, winning seven cups, beating the record of his fellow countryman and ex-Galatasaray
goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel.
Inter Milan On 31 August 2015, Felipe Melo returned to Italy to sign with
Inter Milan on a two-year contract and a €3.7 million transfer fee, plus €500,000 bonuses for each
UEFA Champions League group stage qualification of the club, up to the 2017–18 season. Melo also received €657,500 from Galatasaray. He officially returned to Serie A play on 23 September 2015 against
Hellas Verona, against which he also scored his first goal for Inter.
Palmeiras On 8 January 2017,
Palmeiras announced the signing of Felipe Melo on a three-year contract. Four days later Inter Milan announced that it was a loan until 30 June, with Melo's contract with Inter set to expire on the same day. He made his debut on 5 February in a 1–0 home win over
Botafogo-SP on the first day of the
Campeonato Paulista season; during the game he screamed in the ear of opponent
Samuel Santos, which he admitted was done to liven up the fans. On 22 March, he scored his first goal for the team to conclude a 2–0 win over
Mirassol also at
Allianz Parque. In July, he was frozen out of the team for criticising manager
Cuca; he returned in September. In the 2018 season, Palmeiras came second
in the state and
first in the national league, under the management of
Luiz Felipe Scolari. Felipe Melo said that he improved as a player and a professional under the new manager, and contributed two goals, one being in a 3–0 win over Fluminense in the final stretch of the season. Felipe Melo signed a new contract in June 2019, for two more years at Palmeiras. He scored three times in that year's national competition, including in derbies against
Corinthians (1–1 away draw) and
São Paulo (3–0 home win). In the
2020 season, Felipe Melo was part of a Palmeiras team that won the
state championship and the
Copa do Brasil, as well as the
Copa Libertadores. His team retained the continental tournament a year later with an extra-time final win over Flamengo in
Montevideo.
Fluminense On 13 December 2021, 38-year-old Felipe Melo returned to his home state's football 18 years after leaving Flamengo, signing for Fluminense. He chose the squad number 70 in allusion to the team's win in the
1952 Copa Rio 70 years earlier. His team won the
2022 Campeonato Carioca against Flamengo. In 2023, Fluminense retained the state title against the same rival, and in September that year Felipe Melo's contract was extended to the end of 2024. He also won his third career Libertadores title, against
Boca Juniors.
Retirement On 24 January 2025, Felipe Melo announced his retirement from football at the age of 41. ==International career==