Erik Nascimento Lima (born 18 July 1994), simply known as Erik, is a Brazilian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He currently play for

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

club,

Machida Zelvia is a Japanese football club based in Machida, Tokyo. History Machida is known as "Brazil of Tokyo" due to the popularity of football in the city; it has, in fact, produced the second-largest number of J. League players though its football scho ...

. He began his career at

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...

in 2013, scoring 36 goals in 103 matches across all competitions and winning the Best Newcomer Award in the

2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 58th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top-level of professional football in Brazil. Cruzeiro, the defending champions, won the title for the second time in a row and the fourth ti ...

. In 2015, he transferred to

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

for €3 million.

Club career

Goiás

Born in Novo Repartimento,

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

, Erik joined

's youth setup in 2004, aged 10, after impressing on a trial when visiting family in

Goiânia Goiânia (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region and the 10th-largest in the country. Its metropolitan area has a population ...

. In February 2013, after impressing with the under-20s in Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior, he was promoted to the main squad. On 7 March 2013 Erik renewed his link with the ''Esmeraldino'', signing until December 2016. He made his senior debut on the 27th, coming on as a second-half substitute for

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

in a 2–0 home win against CRAC for the

Campeonato Goiano The Campeonato Goiano is the football league of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Format First Division First stage *Teams are divided in two groups of six teams. *Double round-robin, in which all teams home-and-away games against the team fro ...

championship; he appeared in only one further match in the competition, as his side finished second. On 7 July 2013 Erik made his Série A debut, starting in a 1–0 home win against Vitória. He only appeared rarely during the campaign, with his side finishing in an unexpected sixth position. Erik scored his first goal as a senior on 26 February 2014, netting the first in a 2–1 home win against

Anápolis Anápolis (, ) is a Brazilian city in the State of Goiás. It is located between two capitals, the federal capital Brasília and state capital Goiânia. It is the third most populous city in the state, with 391,772 inhabitants according to an es ...

. He subsequently overtook veteran Araújo and Rychely during the year. Erik started the first league game of the campaign, a 1–0 away win against Atlético Mineiro on 4 May. He scored his first goal in the competition on the 23rd, netting the last in a 2–2 home draw against Santos, and subsequently was an ever-present figure for the club, scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

on 31 August, and also adding braces against

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

and Chapecoense. After finishing the campaign with 12 goals, he was named Best Newcomer. After being strongly linked to a move, Erik remained with Goiás for 2015. In the year's Goiano he scored two braces, against

Atlético Goianiense Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

and Grêmio Anápolis, as his team won the state title. In the year's national tournament, Erik recorded 10 goals from 26 games, including two-goal hauls in 3–0 wins over

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

and Joinville in the middle of the campaign; the latter two teams were relegated alongside Goiás.

Palmeiras

Amid interest from Turkey's Fenerbahçe, Erik signed a five-year contract for

on 23 December 2015; the ''Verdão'' purchased 60% of his economic rights for a fee of €3 million. He made his debut on 19 January in the first match of the new

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, replacing

Gabriel Jesus Gabriel Fernando de Jesus (born 3 April 1997) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Arsenal and the Brazil national team. Jesus began his senior club career at Palmeiras, where he was voted Best Newcomer at ...

for the final 16 minutes of a 2–0 win at Botafogo (SP). Regularly a substitute, he did not score in his first campaign. His national league debut came on 29 May, again in place of Gabriel Jesus in a 1–0 loss at city rivals São Paulo. In his next game, a start on 4 July, he scored his first Palmeiras goal in his 14th game, opening a 3–1 win at

Sport Recife Sport Club do Recife, (; known as Sport Recife or Sport, is a Brazilian sports club, located in the city of Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Founded in 1905, the club currently plays in Série B. In football, the club has w ...

. On 14 December 2017, Atlético Mineiro announced the acquisition of Erik on a year-long loan deal for the 2018 season. However, after a string of poor performances, he was demoted to the reserve team. Subsequently, he left the side and joined

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

on loan on 17 August for the remainder of the season. On 26 July 2019 Erik moved abroad for the first time when he joined Yokohama F. Marinos of Japan's

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

on an 18-month loan.

Changchun Yatai

Erik went to China and joined to Chinese Super League club,

Changchun Yatai Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Changchun, Jilin and their home stadi ...

from mid 2021 season.

FC Machida Zelvia

On 1 January 2023, Erik return to Japan for the first time in three years and signed transfer to J2 club,

for upcoming 2023 season.

International career

On 8 May 2013 Erik was called up to Brazil under-20 team, for the year's Toulon Tournament. A backup to

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

and

Vinícius Araújo Vinícius Vasconcelos Araújo (born 22 February 1993) is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer as a Forward (association football), forward for J3 League club FC Imabari. Club career Cruzeiro Born in João Monlevade, Araúj ...

, he only appeared against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

on 4 June, scoring the first in a 1–1 draw; his side was eventually crowned champions shortly after. On 6 March 2015 Erik was called up to the under-23s, making his debut in a 4–1 home routing over

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

on 27 March.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

;Palmeiras *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

;Yokohama F. Marinos *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

International

* Toulon Tournament:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Individual

* Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Best Newcomer:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erik 1994 births Living people Footballers from Pará Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Goiás Esporte Clube players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Yokohama F. Marinos players Changchun Yatai F.C. players FC Machida Zelvia players China League One players J1 League players J2 League players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Brazil Pan American Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games