Hernani Azevedo Júnior (born 27 March 1994), simply known as Hernani, 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

Club career

Early career in Brazil

Born in

São Gonçalo do Sapucaí São Gonçalo do Sapucaí is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the states of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast region of Brazil. The estimated population is approximately 25,561 inhabitants and the ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, Hernani graduated from

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (abbreviated CAP, commonly known as Athletico Paranaense and up to 2019 known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded o ...

's youth setup. He made his senior debuts in 2013

Campeonato Paranaense The Campeonato Paranaense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is run by the Paraná Football Federation (FPF). List of champions Notes * In 1924 Internacional and América merged in ...

. On 22 August 2013, Hernani was loaned to Série B side

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...

until December. He made his professional debut on 3 September, coming on as a second half substitute in a 1–1 home draw against

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

. Hernani returned to ''Furacão'' in January 2014 and made his Série A debut on 10 September, replacing Marcos Guilherme in a 0–1 away loss against Grêmio. Four days later he was handed his first start, and scored the last goal of a 2–0 home win against Vitória.

Zenit

On 16 December 2016, Hernani signed a five-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

side Zenit St. Petersburg.

Saint-Étienne (loan)

On 8 August 2017, he joined

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season.

Parma

On 12 July 2019, Hernani joined

on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season, with Parma holding an obligation to buy. At the same time he signed a contract with Parma until 30 June 2023.

Loans to Genoa and Reggina

On 7 August 2021, Hernani joined

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on loan with an obligation to buy. The obligation was not fulfilled and the rights reverted to Parma. On 1 September 2022, Hernani moved to Reggina on loan.

Career statistics

Honours

Zenit Saint Petersburg *

: 2018–19 Parma *

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

: 2023–24 Brazil U-17 *

South American Under-17 Football Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 17, is a football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tournament for the newly cre ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

References

External links

Atlético Paranaense profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernani 1994 births Living people Footballers from Minas Gerais Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Russian Premier League players Ligue 1 players Serie A players Serie B players Club Athletico Paranaense players Joinville Esporte Clube players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players AS Saint-Étienne players Parma Calcio 1913 players Genoa CFC players AS Reggina 1914 players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy People from São Gonçalo do Sapucaí 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen