João Paulo da Silva Araújo (born 2 June 1988), commonly known as João Paulo, 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

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) ** Smal ...

for Kairat. He received Kazakhstani citizenship in 2022.

Career

South Korea

On 20 February 2011, João Paulo joined

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

K-League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League titles, the top conti ...

side

Gwangju FC Gwangju FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Gwangju that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. They joined the K League in the 2011 season. History Gwangju FC was founded in December 2010, b ...

on loan from

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, but signed a permanent deal five months later in July. Following Daejeon Citizen's relegation to the

K League Challenge The K League 2 () is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs and operates on a promotion and relegation system with K League 1. History In 2011, the or ...

, he joined

Incheon United Incheon United FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Incheon that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. Founded in 2003, the club is a so-called "community club", with the government of the ...

in January 2014.

Botev Plovdiv

On 16 June 2016, João Paulo joined Bulgarian club

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

, and was presented to the public alongside two fellow new Brazilian signings. On 29 June, he scored his unofficial first goal for the club, in a 5–0 thrashing over

FC Oborishte Oborishte () is a Bulgarian association football club based in the town of Panagyurishte, Pazardzhik Province, currently playing in the Third League, the third level of Bulgarian football. History Oborishte was founded in 1925 as ''Aprilski y ...

in a pre-season friendly. On 15 August 2016, João Paulo scored a goal for the 3–2 win over

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia 1913 () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground is the Stadion Aleksandar Sh ...

. On 27 August, he also scored the winning goal in a 2–1 home victory over Neftochimic Burgas. João Paulo scored 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 Wick ...

for the 4–0 win over

FC Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa Lokomotiv () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Gorna Oryahovitsa, which currently competes in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football. Established in 1932 as a sports association of the railway workers in the ...

on 17 September. Four days later, on 21 September, he scored twice for the 6–3 away win over FC Pirin Gotse Delchev for the Bulgarian Cup. At the end of the same week he scored another goal for the 2–1 away win over

Dunav Ruse FC Dunav (, officially named ''"Дунав от Русе"'') is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Ruse, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. Part of a larger spor ...

. On 16 October João Paulo continued his goalscoring streak during a 4–3 away win over

Beroe Stara Zagora Professional Football Club Beroe Stara Zagora, better known as just Beroe (), is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league syst ...

in the regional ''Thracian Derby''. He scored a goal during the 3–0 win over

PFC Neftochimic Burgas Neftochimic () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Burgas, which currently competes in Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria), Third League, the third tier of the Bulgarian football league system. The team plays its h ...

on 27 October. Three days later, during the 1–1 draw with

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

he scored a goal in the 13th second following an assist from

Todor Nedelev Todor Lyubchev Nedelev (; born 7 February 1993) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Ludogorets Razgrad. Early life Nedelev was born on 7 February 1993, and raised in the village of Belozem, ...

. João Paulo scored again on 3 November during the 3–1 away defeat to

PFC Montana FC Montana () is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Montana, which currently plays in the Second League, the second level of the Bulgarian football league system. Montana plays its home matches at the Ogosta Stadium, which has a ...

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 6 January 2017, after several weeks of negotiations, Paulo joined Bulgarian champions

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

at a reported transfer fee of €150,000.

Return to Botev Plovdiv

On 27 February 2018, João Paulo returned to

on a loan until the end of the season. On 12 March, on day when Botev Plovdiv celebrated 106 years from its foundation, João Paulo scored a goal in a 4–2 away win over

FC Vereya Vereya () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Stara Zagora, which currently competes in the Southeast Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. Vereya was founded in 2001. The team made a remarkable rise through the lev ...

. On 21 April João Paulo scored a goal during the 2–2 draw with

. On 29 April João Paulo scored a goal for the 2–1 home win over

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

. A week later, on 5 May, he scored again but this time Botev Plovdiv was dramatically defeated with 3–2 by

. On 11 May, João Paulo scored twice for the 2–1 win over

and received the award for man of the match.

Kairat

On 6 July 2021, Kairat announced the signing of João Paulo from Ordabasy, on a 18-month contract.

Career statistics

Honours

Ludogorets Razgrad *

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup () is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and the holder of the Bulgarian Cup at that time. ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Kairat *

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Kazakhstan Cup The Kazakhstan Cup is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Kazakhstan Football (soccer), football, run by the Football Federation of Kazakhstan. The tournament was initially founded in 1936 as a competition for club ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Individual *

Player of the Month: April 2023, June 2023 *

Top Scorer:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

*
João Paulo at sambafoot.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joao Paulo 1988 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders K League 1 players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Kazakhstan Premier League players Gwangju FC players Daejeon Hana Citizen players ABC Futebol Clube players Botev Plovdiv players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad II players FC Ordabasy players FC Kairat players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Naturalized citizens of Kazakhstan Footballers from Natal, Rio Grande do Norte 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen