Júnior Moraes

Aluísio Chaves Ribeiro Moraes Júnior (born 4 April 1987), commonly known as Júnior Moraes or just Moraes, is a professional footballer who plays as a forward. Born in Brazil, he received Ukrainian citizenship in March 2019 and represents the Ukraine national team.[2]

This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Chaves Ribeiro and the second or paternal family name is Moraes.
Júnior Moraes
Moraes in 2018
Personal information
Full name Aluísio Chaves Ribeiro
Moraes Júnior
Date of birth (1987-04-04) 4 April 1987
Place of birth Santos, Brazil
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Santos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Santos 24 (4)
2008 → Ponte Preta (loan) 7 (0)
2009 Santo André 8 (2)
2010–2011 Gloria Bistrița 32 (18)
2011–2012 CSKA Sofia 26 (17)
2012–2015 Metalurh Donetsk 63 (35)
2015–2018 Dynamo Kyiv 54 (22)
2017 → Tianjin Quanjian (loan) 3 (0)
2018–2022 Shakhtar Donetsk 72 (46)
2022–2023 Corinthians 14 (1)
International career‡
2019–2021 Ukraine 11 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:11, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 June 2023

Biography

Moraes was born in a family of sportsmen. His father was a very good football player. He played for Flamengo and Santos. His brother Bruno also played for Santos and Porto and still in activity, while his sister ended her football career because of an injury. His mother was a Paulista tennis champion.[3]

He started to play football in São Paulo when he was 4 years old, being in the same group with Robinho.[3]

Career

Santos

Moraes was promoted to the senior team of Santos by coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo at the age of 18.

He then scored a goal in the 2007 Campeonato Paulista final between Santos and São Caetano, helping his side to the title.

Gloria Bistrița
Moraes playing for CSKA Sofia in 2011.

Moraes made an impressive debut in Liga I for Gloria Bistrița, scoring 10 goals in 17 appearances. His good run continued in the first part of the 2010–11 Liga I season as he accumulated a total of 18 goals for Gloria Bistrița in the Romanian championship.

Metalurh Donetsk

On 12 February 2011, Gloria Bistrița announced that Moraes was sold to Ukrainian Premier League squad Metalurh Donetsk, for a reported fee of €1.25 million.[4] However, Moraes never played a game for Metalurh before he rejoined the team in the summer of 2012.

CSKA Sofia

Before 2011–12 season Moraes joined Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia. He made his A Group debut on 12 September 2011 in a 3–0 home win over Lokomotiv Plovdiv, scoring a penalty. On 2 October, Moraes scored twice in a 3–0 away win over Svetkavitsa. He scored a hattrick versus Litex Lovech on 19 May. Moraes eventually finished the 2011–12 A Group season as joint top scorer with Ivan Stoyanov.[5]

Dynamo Kyiv
Júnior Moraes with Dynamo Kyiv in 2015.

On 22 May 2015, Moraes signed a three-year contract with Dynamo Kyiv, who at the time have won the Ukrainian League which had automatically qualified them to the UEFA Champions League group stage. Since his contract with Metalurh was expiring in the summer of 2015, he joined Dynamo as a free agent. He made his official debut for Dynamo in the Ukrainian Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, which Dynamo lost 0–2, conceding both goals in the injury time of the second half while being down to 10 men. Despite the loss, Moraes was one of the best players on the pitch as he got many opportunities, one of which hit the crossbar. On 25 July 2015, Moraes scored his first official goal for Dynamo on the 61st minute in a 2–0 win against Olimpik Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League and was one of the best players on the pitch despite the fact that his team was down to 9 men in the second half.

On 16 September 2015, Moraes made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 2–2 draw against Portuguese club FC Porto in the group stage. On 29 September 2015, Moraes scored his first ever UEFA Champions League goal in the second group stage match, scoring the second goal on the 50th minute in a 0–2 away win against Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. In that season he helped Dynamo reach the 1/8 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 16 years, getting knocked out by Manchester City 1–3 on aggregate, as well as winning the Ukrainian Premier League.

Shakhtar Donetsk

On 18 June 2018, Moraes signed a two-year contract with Shakhtar Donetsk after his contract with his previous club and Shakhtar's UPL rival Dynamo Kyiv ran out.[6]

On 8 December 2021, Moraes extended his contract with Shakhtar Donetsk until 30 June 2022.[7]

Corinthians

On 16 March 2022, Moraes joined Corinthians on a permanent deal until December 2023.[8]

International career

Moraes indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for Ukraine national team if asked.[9][10] On 5 March 2019, Ukrainian journalist announced that Moraes has already filed for citizenship and awaits approval.[11] He received Ukrainian citizenship 13 days later by a decree of President Petro Poroshenko[2] and made his debut as a substituted player in the drawn match against Portugal national team on 22 March 2019. He became the third Brazilian to have been capped for Ukraine after Edmar and Marlos, who made their debut in 2011 and 2017, respectively.

Career statistics

Club
As of 23 March 2023[12][13]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League State League Cup[lower-alpha 1] Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Santos 2007 Série A 1514[lower-alpha 2]2—2[lower-alpha 3]0—213
2008 114[lower-alpha 2]0—00—51
Total 16282—20—264
Ponte Preta (loan) 2008 Série B 70————70
Santo André 2009 Série A 315[lower-alpha 2]100——82
Gloria Bistrița 2009–10 Liga I 1710—00——1710
2010–11 158—32——1810
Total 3218—32——3520
CSKA Sofia 2011–12 A Group 2416—2100002617
Metalurh Donetsk 2012–13 Ukrainian Premier League 2311—004[lower-alpha 4]2—2713
2013–14 2719—102[lower-alpha 4]0—3019
2014–15 135—00——135
Total 6335—1062—7037
Dynamo Kyiv 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League 207—317[lower-alpha 5]11[lower-alpha 6]0319
2016–17 1610—126[lower-alpha 5]11[lower-alpha 6]02413
2017–18 185—1011[lower-alpha 4]7003012
Total 5422—53249208534
Tianjin Quanjian (loan) 2017 Chinese Super League 30—12——42
Shakhtar Donetsk 2018–19 Ukrainian Premier League 2719—338[lower-alpha 7]41[lower-alpha 6]03926
2019–20 2719—1012[lower-alpha 8]61[lower-alpha 6]04125
2020–21 176—007[lower-alpha 9]21[lower-alpha 6]1259
2021–22 11—00000011
Total 7245—4327123110661
Corinthians 2022 Série A 902[lower-alpha 2]0214[lower-alpha 3]0—171
2023 003[lower-alpha 2]00000—30
Total 90502140—201
Career total 2791401831812632351386179
  1. Includes Copa do Brasil, Cupa României, Bulgarian Cup, Ukrainian Cup, Chinese FA Cup
  2. Appearance(s) in Campeonato Paulista
  3. Appearance(s) in Copa Libertadores
  4. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  5. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  6. Appearance(s) in Ukrainian Super Cup
  7. Six appearances and three goals in UEFA Champions League, two appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  8. Six appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, six appearances and four goals in UEFA Europa League
  9. Three appearances in UEFA Champions League, four appearances and two goals in UEFA Europa League

International
As of match played 31 March 2021[14]
Ukraine
YearAppsGoals
201950
202030
202131
Total111

International goals
Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Moraes goal.[14]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.28 March 2021Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, Kyiv, Ukraine Finland1–01–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Club

Santos

CSKA Sofia

Dynamo Kyiv

Shakhtar Donetsk

Individual
  • A PFG Player of the Year: 2011–12
  • A PFG Top Scorer: 2011–12 (16 goals)[15]
  • Ukrainian Premier League Top Scorer: 2018–19 (19 goals), 2019–20 (20 goals)

References
  1. "Moraes Junior - FC Dynamo Kyiv. Official club website". www.fcdynamo.kiev.ua.
  2. (in Ukrainian) Forward Shakhtar Morais received Ukrainian citizenship, UNIAN (18 March 2019)
  3. "Júnior Moraes: "O să-l fac uitat pe Bogdan Stancu!"". adevarul.ro. Adevarul Holding. 23 January 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  4. "Acum este oficial, Junior Moraes va juca la Metalurg Doneţk". gsp.ro. Gazeta Sporturilor. 12 February 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  5. "Bulgaria - A PFG Top goalscorers". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  6. "Moraes transfer". shakhtar.com. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  7. "Shakhtar and Moraes: contract extension". shakhtar.com/. FC Shakhtar Donetsk. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  8. "Júnior Moraes é o novo reforço do Corinthians". corinthians.com.br (in Portuguese). Sport Club Corinthians Paulista. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  9. "The football Federation of Ukraine decided to strengthen the Brazilian national team". latestnewsresource.com. Latest News Resource. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  10. "Мораес: был бы рад играть за сборную Украины" [Moraes: I would be happy to play for the Ukrainian team]. sportarena.com. Sport Arena. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  11. Moraes filed documents to receive Ukrainian citizenship — source (Мораес подал документы для получения украинского гражданства – источник). UA-Football. 5 March 2019
  12. Júnior Moraes at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  13. Júnior Moraes at Soccerway
  14. "Júnior Moraes". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  15. "Bulgaria - A PFG Top goalscorers". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
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