Márcio Gonzaga de Azevedo (born 5 February 1986), known as Márcio Azevedo, is a Brazilian footballer who last played for Athletico Paranaense as a left back.

Career

Early career

Born in

Guarabira Guarabira is a municipality in the state of Paraíba in the Northeast Region of Brazil. It is located at around . It was founded in 1837. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Guarabira The Roman Catholic Diocese of Guarabira ( la ...

, Brazil, Márcio Azevedo joined the local Juventude youth teams at a young age. Following his success in the youth ranks, he was promoted to the first team in 2004. He made his official debut on 3 December 2006, in a 5–3 loss to

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

. In the 2006–07 season, despite making 13 appearances (3 assists), Azevedo was not among the coach's first choices, which prompted him to consider other options. In September 2007, he signed with Fortaleza on a loan. He was a regular starter for the side.

Atlético Paranaense

He moved to

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 ...

in June 2008, and appeared 24 times (21 in the championship and 3 in the Copa Sudamericana) and scored one goal. The following season he continued to be one of the main players on the club's team, playing 29 games (3 assists). In the 2009–10 season, Azevedo was seriously injured for the first time and lost his place in the starting 11. He managed to play in 10 games (3 assists), and at the end of the season he started looking for a new club.

Botafogo

On 1 January 2011, Azevedo transferred to one of Brazil's biggest teams,

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 ...

. Although he struggled with a new injury that kept him on the bench for most of the season (12 appearances, 1 assist), the club insisted on keeping him. Following this difficulty, Azevedo gained prominence in the 2011–12 season when he played in 33 games (1 goal, 4 assists), impressing the European scouts.

Metalist Kharkiv

On 27 February 2013, after two-and-a-half years with Botafogo, Azevedo signed with

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

club Metalist in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Cleiton Xavier Cleiton Ribeiro Xavier ( uk, Клейтон Шав'єр; born 23 March 1983) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. He is known by his powerful and accurate free kicks, dribbling skills and passes. C ...

, Willian, Fininho, Jajá, and

Marlos Marlos Romero Bonfim ( uk, Марлос Ромеро Бонфим; born 7 June 1988), or simply Marlos, is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Club career Marlos was born in São José dos Pinhais. In July 2014, he s ...

. In the second half of the 2012–13 season, he played in only 8 games, but left good impressions on the Metalist staff. In the 2013–14 season, Azevedo played in 33 games (making 1 assist).

Shakhtar Donetsk

After his exceptional appearances with the team of Kharkiv, Azevedo had gained notice and the Ukrainian giants FC Shakhtar Donetsk and

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently head coach of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Lucescu is also ...

offered to purchase him. On 17 August 2014, he signed a four-year contract with FC Shakhtar Donetsk for a transfer fee of 4 million. An injury suffered on 9 March 2015 kept him out for 112 days, so that he only competed in 6 games. Despite his return to the squad, his leg injury remained an issue, and in the 2015–16 season he only played 11 games (2 assists). After a very difficult period for the defender, marred by 441 days on the injury list, Azevedo returned to action in a home game against

FC Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 a ...

in May 2017.

PAOK (loan)

In late December 2017, the administration of the Greek Super League club PAOK was close to signing Azevedo. The 31-year-old player was expected to replace Croatian international left defender

Marin Leovac Marin Leovac (; born 7 August 1988) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a left back for NK Osijek. Early career Leovac began his career in July 1997 in Austria with Sportunion Aschbach and signed in March 2001 with USV Oed/Zeill ...

, in the current squad of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

winners, ahead of the second half of the 2017–18 season. The club signed Azevedo until the end of the season and paid 400,000 for a long on him.

Athletico Paranaense return

On 24 July 2018, Athletico Paranaense announced that they had signed Azevedo until the end of 2019. On 17 December 2018, Azevedo signed a contract extension to stay at the club until the end of December 2020.

Career statistics

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 ev ...

: 2008 Athletico Paranaense * Campeonato Paranaense: 2009,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

* Copa Sudamericana:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

* J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship:

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 ...

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de P ...

Shakhtar Donetsk *

: 2016–17 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( uk, Кубок України) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003� ...

: 2016, 2017 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football competition season in Ukra ...

: 2016, 2017 PAOK *

: 2017–18

References

External links

*
Márcio Azevedo profile
at FutPédia * {{DEFAULTSORT:Azevedo, Marcio 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Paraíba Association football fullbacks Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Esporte Clube Juventude players Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Club Athletico Paranaense players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players FC Metalist Kharkiv players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players PAOK FC players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Ukrainian Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece