Ariclenes da Silva Ferreira (russian: Арикленес да Силва Феррейра; born 11 December 1985), commonly known as Ari (), is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for Atletico Cearense. Born in Brazil, he represented the Russia national team after being

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

. He started his professional career in 2005 with his hometown club

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

, and signed for Swedish club Kalmar one year later. After two and a half seasons in AZ Alkmaar, he played in the Russian Premier League for

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

, and Lokomotiv Moscow.

Club career

Having joined

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

team Kalmar FF in spring 2006, Ari was the top scorer in the

Allsvenskan 2006 Allsvenskan 2006, part of the 2006 Swedish football season, was the 82nd Allsvenskan season played. The first match was played 1 April 2006 and the last match was played 5 November 2006. IF Elfsborg won the league ahead of runners-up AIK Fotboll, ...

with 15 goals, amassing one goal more than compatriot Afonso Alves had the previous season. On 28 May 2007, Ari signed a five-year contract with AZ for an undisclosed fee. At Alkmaar he struggled to force his way into the first team on a regular basis, but he did win the

2008–09 Eredivisie The Eredivisie 2008–09 is the 53rd season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. PSV were the reigning champions. The season began on 29 August 2008 with a game between Vitesse Arnhem and FC Groningen and ended on 10 May 2009. A tota ...

. In January 2010 Ari was transferred to

for €3 million. Despite a successful career at the club, he departed amidst a conflict with management. On 19 August 2013, he signed a three-year contract with

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

. He left Krasnodar on 17 May 2021, after being a key player for eight seasons

International career

In 2016, after Kosovo's membership in

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

and

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, Ari was offered a chance to play for the Kosovo national team by their coach,

Albert Bunjaki Albert Bunjaki (born 18 June 1971) is a Kosovan professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of IF Karlstad. Managerial career Kosovo On 18 July 2009, Bunjaki was appointed as the manager of the Kosovo after the forme ...

. Coincidentally, he was also an assistant coach at Kalmar, Ari's former club. The offer was rejected by the

Football Federation of Kosovo The Football Federation of Kosovo ( sq, Federata e Futbollit e Kosovës; FFK) is the governing body of football in Kosovo, with headquarters in Pristina. The Football Federation of Kosovo was established in 1946 as a branch of the Football Associa ...

's president, Fadil Vokrri. In July 2017, Ari confirmed his desire to obtain Russian citizenship and represent the Russia national team at the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

. However, the citizenship process was delayed and he received a Russian passport in July 2018. On 12 November 2018, Ari was called up to the Russian squad for the first time for the friendly matches against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Personal life

As of now, Ari is one of three Brazilians who played for the Russian national team, the others being

Guilherme Marinato Guilherme Alvim Marinato (russian: Гилье́рми Алви́н Марина́ту;, however, is usually used. His Russian passport says russian: Гилерме Алвим Маринато, label=none, italics=yes. russian: Гилерме, l ...

and Mário Fernandes. He and Guilherme can speak Russian. After Ari was called up to the Russian national team,

Pavel Pogrebnyak Pavel Viktorovich Pogrebnyak (russian: Па́вел Ви́кторович Погребня́к ; born 8 November 1983) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Moscow, Pogrebnyak began his career at Spart ...

said: "I don't see the point of this. I do not understand at all why Ari received a Russian passport. It is laughable when a black player represents the Russian national side". Accused of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, an investigation was subsequently launched, after which Pogrebnyak was fined and put on probation.

Career statistics

Notes

Honours

;Fortaleza *

Campeonato Cearense The Campeonato Cearense is the football league of the state of Ceará, Brazil. Format The Campeonato Cearense has three divisions with the following division and format (as in any other Brazilian soccer championship, the format can change ever ...

: 2005 ;Kalmar * Svenska Cupen:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

;AZ Alkmaar *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 2008–09 *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

;Krasnodar * Russian Cup: runner-up 2013–14 ;Lokomotiv Moscow * Russian Premier League: 2017–18 * Russian Cup: 2016–17 ;Individual *

Allsvenskan Top Scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football. is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ... Association football player non-biographical articles ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

(15 goals)

References

External links

Voetbal International

Ari discussion

Ari signs for AZ

Ari signs for AZ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ari 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Fortaleza Russian footballers Russia international footballers Brazilian footballers Brazilian emigrants to Russia Naturalised citizens of Russia Russian people of Brazilian descent Association football forwards Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Kalmar FF players AZ Alkmaar players Allsvenskan players Eredivisie players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Russian Premier League players FC Spartak Moscow players FC Krasnodar players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players