José Nilson dos Santos Silva (born 6 April 1991), simply known as Nilson, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward.
Born in São Paulo, Nilson joined Vasco da Gama's youth setup in 2010, after starting it out at Portuguesa. He made his first team â and Série A â debut for the former on 6 June 2010, starting in a 0âÂÂ4 away loss against Santos.
After being rarely used by Vasco, Nilson was loaned to Série B sides Criciúma, Paraná and Bragantino, but appeared sparingly for all clubs, and was released in December 2013.
On 28 February 2014, Nilson joined Boa Esporte permanently, but after again being a backup, moved to Icasa on 19 September. With the latter he scored a brace in a 3âÂÂ1 home win against Náutico on 1 November.
On 16 January 2015, Nilson signed for São Bento. After featuring regularly for the club, he joined Cianorte on 16 April. On 19 May 2015 he was loaned to Santos until the end of the year.
Nilson's spell at Peixe was mainly associated to his ugly late miss in the 2015 Copa do Brasil Final against Palmeiras, where he sent the ball wide as the goal was empty. He was subsequently released by the club, and moved to Ventforet Kofu on 8 January 2016.
On 18 January 2017, Nilson signed for Novorizontino.
In November 2020, Nilson joined Hong Kong Premier League club Pegasus.
Nilson finished the first leg of the 2022/23 Thai League 2 season as leading goal scorer with 10 goals.