Eli Durante

{{short description|Brazilian footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Eli Durante

| image =

| birth_date =

| birth_place = São Paulo, Brazil

| height =

| position = Striker

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 =

| years1 = 1967

| years2 = 1968

| years3 = 1968

| years4 = 1970

| years5 = 1971–1975

| clubs1 = Los Angeles Toros

| clubs2 = San Diego Toros

| clubs3 = St. Louis Stars

| clubs4 = Kansas City Spurs

| clubs5 = Rochester Lancers

| caps1 = 23

| caps2 = 6

| caps3 = 6

| caps4 = 22

| caps5 = 90

| goals1 = 15

| goals2 = 1

| goals3 = 1

| goals4 = 8

| goals5 = 5

}}

Eli Durante is a Brazilian retired footballer who played in the North American Soccer League from 1967 to 1975.

In 1967, Durante moved to the United States and signed with the Los Angeles Toros of the National Professional Soccer League. He was the league's third leading scorer that season.{{cite web |url=http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1967.html |work=The Year in American Soccer |title=1967 |access-date=22 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328230904/http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1967.html |archive-date=28 March 2019 |url-status=dead }} At the end of the season, the NPSL merged with the United Soccer Association to form the North American Soccer League and the Toros moved to San Diego. Durante played six games with the Toros before moving to the St. Louis Stars.

In 1969, Durante signed with the Kansas City Spurs as it won the league title. The Spurs folded at the end of the 1970 season and Durante moved to the Rochester Lancers where he spent the last five seasons of his career. After retiring from soccer, Durante returned to Kansas City where he lived{{cite news |title=Never too early for soccer - Fans wake up to watch Cup final at KC-area pub |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |date=1 July 2002}} before buying Florida Forklift Supply, LLC in 2008.{{cite web |title=Company History |url=http://www.floridaforkliftsupply.com/Company_History.html |publisher=Florida Forklift Supply, LLC |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405171729/http://www.floridaforkliftsupply.com/Company_History.html |archivedate=5 April 2011 }}