Guarani Jonas began his senior career at
Guarani in 2005. He made his debut against
Santo André. While playing for Guarani, Jonas scored 13 goals, 12 of them where he won the
2006 Campeonato Paulista, scoring five goals in six matches. However, he had a serious knee injury that kept him out of action for six months. In 2007, he returned to the pitch and scored four goals in the Paulista, helping Santos win the tournament for the second time in a row. After spending only one year at Santos, Jonas transferred to Grêmio in 2007.
Grêmio On 12 September 2007,
Grêmio signed a four-year deal which transferred 50% of Jonas' rights. He made his debut in the
Gre–Nal derby, leaving injured early in the second half. After more forwards arrived in 2008, Jonas lost his place, sometimes even failing to make the reserves list. The most consistent criticism from the press was his lack of physical strength when playing up front against powerful defenders. By July, he decided to leave the club.
Portuguesa (loan) Despite not being able to avoid relegation to the
Série B in 2008, Jonas was one of the best players in the team, scoring 18 goals during his stay, nine in the Campeonato Brasileiro, ahead of teammate
Edno's eight.
Return to Grêmio After the loan ended, Jonas returned to Grêmio for the 2009 season. He played in the
2009 Copa Libertadores, and after playing his worst game in the tournament (incredibly missing three chances to score in the same attack) against
Boyacá Chicó, he was dubbed "the worst forward in the world" ("
el peor delantero del mundo") by the Spanish newspaper
Mundo Deportivo. Jonas, however, scored 14 goals in the
2009 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and was among the top goal scorers. He enjoyed further success throughout the 2010 season: he was the top-scorer for Grêmio in the
2010 Campeonato Gaúcho and finished as the top scorer in
Série A with 23 goals.
Valencia in 2011 Due to a low release fee (€1.25 million), Jonas rescinded his contract with Grêmio, where he was finally transferred to Spanish club
Valencia on 24 January 2011. His first goal for
Los Che came on 27 February, scoring a late winner in a 2–1 away victory for Valencia against
Athletic Bilbao. He scored his second goal in a match against
Real Madrid on 24 April, which ended 3–6. On 1 November 2011, Jonas scored the second fastest goal in
UEFA Champions League history by netting inside 10.5 seconds to give Valencia a 1–0 lead over
Bayer Leverkusen. He fell just short of former
Bayern Munich and
Netherlands national team striker
Roy Makaay's record of 10.13 seconds that he set against Real Madrid in the
2006–07 edition of the tournament. Valencia won the match 3–1. Jonas scored both goals for Valencia in a 2–0 Champions League win against
Lille on 2 October 2012. In the
2012–13 La Liga, he scored a personal-season high of 13 goals for Valencia. On 1 September 2014, he rescinded his link with the club.
Benfica 2014–15 season On 12 September 2014, Jonas signed for Portuguese
Primeira Liga champions
Benfica on a two-year deal. On 5 October, he debuted for the club in a 4–0 win against
Arouca, scoring his side's fourth goal. On 18 October, he scored a hat-trick as Benfica defeated
Covilhã 2–3 in the
third round of
Taça de Portugal. On 22 November, he scored twice against
Moreirense (4–1) in the
Portuguese Cup. On 30 December, he scored the only goal in a home win against
Nacional in the
third round of the
Taça da Liga, thus scoring in every domestic competition. On 21 January 2015, Jonas scored for Moreirense in the league cup and became the Brazilian with the best average number of goals in Europe (0.81), surpassing
Neymar (0.74) and
Luiz Adriano (0.70), with 13 goals in 16 matches. On 28 February, Jonas scored twice in the thrashing of
Estoril (6–0) in the league. On 14 March, Jonas scored his 20th goal for Benfica (in 25 matches) and set his season goal record in Europe, as Benfica beat
Braga (2–0) in the Primeira Liga. On 4 April, he scored two goals against Nacional in the league. On 11 April, he scored twice against
Académica de Coimbra (5–1) in the league. On 18 April, he scored twice in a third consecutive league match, in a win at
Belenenses (0–2), and became the second best top scorer in Primeira Liga with 16 goals in 22 matches. On 23 May 2015, after winning the
league title, Jonas netted two goals in a home win against
Marítimo (4–1) in his last league match of
the season, in which he could have become the
league's top scorer with 21 goals, but one of his three goals was wrongly invalidated for offside. On 29 May, he scored the first goal in a 2–1 win against Marítimo in the
Taça da Liga final, being named man of the match. In this season, he was the top scorer in the league cup with five goals, and in the Taça de Portugal with six goals. On 4 July, he won the
league's Player of the Year award.
2015–16 season In the
2015–16 season, Jonas scored a
hat-trick in a 4–1 win at Nacional, increasing his tally to 18 goals in 17 league matches. On 5 February 2016, he scored twice in a league victory at Belenenses (0–5). On 16 February, he scored a
last-minute goal with a header in the 91st minute to give Benfica a home win against
Zenit Saint Petersburg (1–0) in the first leg of the
UEFA Champions League's
round of 16. On 29 February, Jonas netted two goals against
União da Madeira (2–0) in the
Primeira Liga and equalised
Óscar Cardozo's scoring record at Benfica in the
2009–10 season. On 14 March 2016, Jonas scored twice against
Tondela in a 4–1 home league win and became Benfica's top scorer of the 21st century with 30 goals. Six days later, he scored the winning goal at
Boavista (0–1) in the 93rd minute. On 15 May, he scored his 32nd league goal, in a home win against Nacional (4–1) on the final day, and received the Bola de Prata award during the league title celebration. Throughout the season, he was a candidate to win the
European Golden Shoe and even lead the race, but ultimately finished fourth. On 15 July, Jonas was awarded the Top Goalscorer and the Best Player awards in Primeira Liga for the 2015–16 season.
2016–17 season Jonas opened the 2016–17 season with a goal in the 3–0 win over
Braga for the
2016 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. Days later, he required surgery for
osteophytes, which ended up ruling him out until late December. Despite not opening his account for the league season until the 16th matchday in a 2–0 win at
Vitória de Guimarães, Jonas finished the campaign with 13 goals from 19 games, making him the league's fifth-highest scorer of the season and Benfica's second. On 1 April 2017, he scored his first goal against another member of the
Big Three in a 1–1 home draw with
Porto, and in doing so reached 65 league goals for Benfica – leapfrogging the Swede
Mats Magnusson as the club's highest foreign goalscorer in the competition, behind Paraguay's
Óscar Cardozo (112).
2017–18 season In the
2017 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira against Vitória de Guimarães at the
Estádio Municipal de Aveiro, Jonas opened the scoring after six minutes of a 3–1 win for Benfica. He scored five times in the four league matches of August 2017, including a hat-trick in a 5–0 win over neighbours
Belenenses on 19 August. On 26 November, he scored twice in a 6–0 home win over
Vitória de Setúbal to pass 100 goals for Benfica, and also became only their second player after
Julinho (1949–50) to net in ten consecutive league fixtures. He picked up the league's Player of the Month award five months running from October/November 2017 to March 2018. On 3 March 2018, Jonas scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 home win over Marítimo. He ended the season with 34 goals from 30 games in the league, finishing as top scorer for the second time, seven goals ahead of Sporting's
Bas Dost; Benfica missed out on the league title to Porto, and Jonas missed several games towards the end of the season.
2018–19 season On 3 November 2018, Jonas reached 100 Primeira Liga goals for Benfica, in the second minute of a home game against
Moreirense that ended in a shock 3–1 loss. Following his return from injury in the
2018–19 season, Jonas scored twice to seal a 10–0 home thrashing of Nacional in the league on 11 February 2019. On 9 July 2019, he announced his retirement. ==International career==