Aluísio Chaves Ribeiro Moraes Júnior (; born 4 April 1987), commonly known as Júnior Moraes or just Moraes, is a retired

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 played as a forward. Born in Brazil, he has previously played for the Ukraine national team.Forward Shakhtar Morais received Ukrainian citizenship

UNIAN The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...

(18 March 2019)

Biography

Moraes was born in a family of sportsmen. His father was a very good football player. He played for

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

and Santos. He has a brother

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologn ...

who also started his football career at Santos, while his sister ended her football career because of an injury. His mother was a Paulista tennis champion. He started to play football in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

when he was 4 years old, being in the same group with

Robinho Robson de Souza (; born 25 January 1984), known as Robinho (), is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer and convicted rapist who played as a Forward (association football), forward. In 1997, at 12 years of age, Robin ...

. To Europe Júnior Moraes arrived when his brother

was playing for

ACF Gloria Bistrița Asociația Club de Fotbal Gloria Bistrița (), commonly known as Gloria Bistrița, or simply as Gloria, was a Romanian professional association football, football football team, club based in Bistrița, Bistrița-Năsăud County founded on 6 Jul ...

in 2010. After playing few years in

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

(Romania, Bulgaria), in 2012 Júnior Moraes moved to Ukraine where he played for several top-level teams in Kyiv and Donetsk. Due to the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion, he moved back to Brazil.

Career

Start and Brazilian period

Moraes was promoted to the senior team of Santos by coach

Vanderlei Luxemburgo Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva (born 10 May 1952) is a retired former Brazilian professional football coach and player. A left wingback, Luxemburgo represented Flamengo, Internacional and Botafogo before retiring in 1980. He subsequently be ...

at the age of 18. He then scored a goal in the 2007

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

final between Santos and São Caetano, helping his side to the title.

Debut in Europe and Gloria Bistrița

Moraes made an impressive debut in

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

for Gloria Bistrița, scoring 10 goals in 17 appearances. However, the club itself struggled placing only 11. His good run continued in the first part of the

2010–11 Liga I The 2010–11 Liga I was the ninety-third season of the top-level football league of Romania. The season commenced on 23 July 2010 and ended on 21 May 2011. A winter break where no matches were played was held between 11 December 2010 and 18 Fe ...

season as he accumulated 8 goals for 2010-11 season and a total of 18 goals for Gloria Bistrița in both seasons of the Romanian football championship. Placing only 14 among 18 clubs, Gloria Bistrița were denied a licence for the next 2011–12 season because of accumulated debt and were therefore relegated to Liga II.

CSKA Sofia and Metalurh Donetsk

Facing financial crisis on 12 February 2011, Gloria Bistrița announced that Moraes was sold to

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

squad Metalurh Donetsk, for a reported fee of €1.25 million. However, Moraes never played a game for Metalurh before he rejoined the team in the summer of 2012. Before 2011–12 season Moraes joined Bulgarian side

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'' ...

. He made his A Group debut on 12 September 2011 in a 3–0 home win over

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

, scoring a penalty. On 2 October, Moraes scored twice in a 3–0 away win over Svetkavitsa. He scored a hattrick versus Litex Lovech on 19 May. Moraes eventually finished the

2011–12 A Group The 2011–12 A Group was the 88th season of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 64th of A Group as the top tier football league in the country. The season began on 6 August 2011 and ended on 23 May 2012. Ludogorets Razgrad c ...

season as joint top scorer with Ivan Stoyanov. However,

was outperformed surprisingly by a point by Ludogorets that won the national title for the first time and CSKA qualified to the

UEFA Europe League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

instead of the Champions League. In his first season in Ukraine for Metalurh during the 2012–13 season Junior Moraes placed 4th in topscorer list with 11 tallies sharing the place with

Andriy Yarmolenko Andriy Mykolayovych Yarmolenko (; born 23 October 1989) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward for Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv and captains the Ukraine national team. Yarmolenko has been a ful ...

. He missed the first game of season for Metalurh against

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

and made his debut in the

on 22 July 2012 at the home game of Round 2 against

Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk was based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team currently plays its games at Slavutych-Arena in Zaporizhzhia. The modern club as a ...

, which Metalurh lost 1–2 playing at their home stadium Metalurh in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

."Металлург" (Донецк) - "Заря" (Луганск) 1:2 (1:1)
uafootball.net.ua Junior Moraes was substituted out by the Brazilian-born Belgian

Danilo Danilo is a given name found in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Serbian. Notable people with the name Danilo include: Athletes Footballers * Danilo (footballer, born 1979), Brazilian footballer Danilo de Andrade * Danilo (footballer, born ...

on the 70th minute. That season Metalurh eventually qualified to the

and Moraes finally made his debut at the European club competition at the away game against Albanian side of

FK Kukësi Futboll Klub Kukësi is an Albanian professional football club based in the city of Kukës. The club plays its home games at the Kukës Arena and currently competes in the Kategoria e Parë, the second highest division of Albanian football. The ...

. Playing the first game in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

on August 1, 2013, Metalurh lost it 0–2 and Moraes was substituted by Maksym Dehtyaryov on 70th minute. A week thereafter, Kukësi that was making their debut at the European club competitions managed to hold off Metalurh in

in an away loss 0–1, while Junior Moraes played the full match. The next season ( 2013–14) was the best for Moraes in Metalurh. He scored 19 goals in the

yielding the topscorer award to

Luiz Adriano Luiz Adriano de Souza da Silva (born 12 April 1987), or simply Luiz Adriano (), is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Esporte Clube Vitória, Vitória. Born in P ...

by a single goal. With the start of the

Russo-Ukraine War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then supported Russian paramilitaries who began a war in the eastern Donbas re ...

in 2014, Metalurh Donetsk faced some financial hardship and struggled in performance placing only 6th. Nonetheless, the club managed to reach status of a candidate for the UEFA continental competitions. In April of 2014, their status was denied and passed on to next club. With the war developing, Metalurh was forced to relocate to

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

from

for the

2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League The 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League season was the 24th since its establishment. The competition commenced on 25 July when Metalurh Donetsk hosted Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Lviv. Due to the war in Donbas, the league reduced the number of team ...

season playing at the

Obolon Arena Obolon Arena is a football stadium in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine. It is the home ground of Association football, football club FC Obolon Kyiv, Obolon Kyiv.Metalurh Donetsk were deducted a total of 6 points on decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. With return of Volodymyr Pyatenko to Metalurh Donetsk, Junior Moraes appearances decreased and he scored only 5 goals in the league competitions.

Dynamo Kyiv

With the ongoing

season, on 22 May 2015, Moraes signed a three-year contract with

, who at the time have won the Ukrainian League which had automatically qualified them to the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stage. Since his contract with Metalurh was expiring in the summer of 2015, he joined Dynamo as a free agent. He made his official debut for Dynamo in the

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () 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 (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

against

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

, which Dynamo lost 0–2, conceding both goals in the injury time of the second half while being down to 10 men. Despite the loss, Moraes was one of the best players on the pitch as he got many opportunities, one of which hit the crossbar. On 25 July 2015, Moraes scored his first official goal for Dynamo on the 61st minute in a 2–0 win against

Olimpik Donetsk FC Olimpik Donetsk ( ) is a Ukrainian inactive football team based in Donetsk, Ukraine. The club currently doesn't play in any Ukrainian competition due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since its promotion to Ukrainian Premier League in 2 ...

in the

and was one of the best players on the pitch despite the fact that his team was down to 9 men in the second half. On 16 September 2015, Moraes made his

debut in a 2–2 draw against Portuguese club

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

in the group stage. On 29 September 2015, Moraes scored his first ever

goal in the second group stage match, scoring the second goal on the 50th minute in a 0–2 away win against Israeli club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

. In that season he helped Dynamo reach the 1/8 of the

for the first time in 16 years, getting knocked out by

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

1–3 on aggregate, as well as winning the

Shakhtar Donetsk

On 18 June 2018, Moraes signed a two-year contract with

after his contract with his previous club and Shakhtar's UPL rival

ran out. On 8 December 2021, Moraes extended his contract with Shakhtar Donetsk until 30 June 2022.

Corinthians

On 16 March 2022, Moraes joined

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () 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-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

on a permanent deal until December 2023.

International career

Moraes indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for Ukraine national team if asked. On 5 March 2019, Ukrainian journalist announced that Moraes has already filed for citizenship and awaits approval. Right before the

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

, it was announced that he received Ukrainian citizenship 13 days later by a decree of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

and made his debut as a substituted player in the drawn match against Portugal national team on 22 March 2019. He became the third Brazilian to have been capped for Ukraine after Edmar and Marlos, who made their debut in 2011 and 2017, respectively. Soon after receiving his naturalization, Júnior Moraes became in the middle of international scandal connected with the

. Following the bleak performance of the Portugal national team in the opening match against Ukraine and loss of the Luxembourg national team from Ukraine in the following round of the tournament, one of the Portuguese media (Mais futebol) came out with an article questioning legality of the Moraes's naturalization. In his article the "Mais futebol" deputy director Sérgio Pereira argued that not only Júnior Moraes does not have any kinship to Ukraine, but he did not even live in Ukraine for the required period of time.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ukraine's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Moraes goal.''

Honours

Club

Santos *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

CSKA Sofia *

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. ...

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 ...

Dynamo Kyiv *

: 2015–16 *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Shakhtar Donetsk * Ukrainian Premier League: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) 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 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

: 2018–19

Individual

A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

Player of the Year: 2011–12 *

Top Scorer: 2011-12 (16 goals) *

Top Scorer: 2018–19 (19 goals), 2019–20 (20 goals), *

Best goalscorer: 2019-20

References

External links