Born in Curitiba, Paraná, Emerson finished his formation with Paraná and started his senior career while on loan at Grêmio Maringá in 1997.
Upon returning, he started to feature sparingly with the first team in the Série A. Emerson left the club in December 2003, and failed to settle with any club in the remainder of his career.
He represented Criciúma, Sport, Gama, Al-Sharjah, Joinville, Bahia,[1] Chapecoense, Anapolina and CRAC;[2] he retired with the latter in 2013.
[3] He became the assistant manager of the main squad in 2017, and after the dismissal of Vinícius Eutrópio in September of that year, he was named manager in an interim manner.
[4] In March 2019, after the sacking of Claudinei Oliveira, Emerson was again interim, but returned to his previous role shortly after the appointment of Ney Franco.