Wanderson Maciel Sousa Campos (born 7 October 1994), known as Wanderson, is a 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 for Brazilian club Cruzeiro as a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, Wanderson joined

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

's youth setup in 2002, aged eight, as his father was playing for the club. In 2009, again following his father, he joined

Beerschot AC Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were ...

. After progressing through the latter's youth setup, he made his first team and Pro League debut on 31 October 2012, starting in a 1–3 away loss against

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

. Wanderson appeared in six league matches for Beerschot before the club was relegated and subsequently declared bankruptcy. On 20 June 2013 he signed a two-year deal with Lierse SK, after impressing on a trial. Wanderson made his Lierse debut on 27 July 2013, in a 1–2 home loss against

Zulte-Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. The club set to play in Belgian Pro League from 2025–26 after promotion f ...

, and scored his first professional goal on 23 November, netting the first in a 4–2 win at Cercle Brugge. In October 2014 he was linked as a target to the likes of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, but none of them made any formal bids for the player. Wanderson played for the

Belgium national under-16 football team The Belgium national under-17 football team is the national under-17 Association football, football team of Belgium and is controlled by the Belgian Football Association. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship and the ...

Getafe

In 2015, after Lierse's relegation, Wanderson failed to appear in the club's pre-season; despite Lierse alleging he was under contract, his father alleged he was a free agent after receiving a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

clearance. He subsequently went on a trial at

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

in July, signing a contract with the club. Despite being assigned to the reserves in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, Wanderson was called up for the pre-season with the main squad, also scoring a goal against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

. He made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 30 August 2015, coming on as a second-half substitute for Emi Buendía in a 1–2 home loss against

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

Red Bull Salzburg

On 1 July 2016, Wanderson signed a three-year deal with

FC Red Bull Salzburg Fußballclub Red Bull Salzburg, commonly known as simply Red Bull Salzburg, is an Austrian professional Association football, football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Football in Austria ...

on a free transfer. He scored his first goal on 3 August 2016 in the match against Partizani Tirana in the UEFA Champions League. On 19 December 2016, Red Bull Salzburg announced that Wanderson had retroactively been handed a four-month suspension by

that would end on 27 February 2017, due to a breach of the transfer terms during his move from Belgian club Lierse to Getafe in the summer of 2015.

Krasnodar

On 26 June 2017, Wanderson signed a five-year contract with the

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 ...

club

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. They are the league's reigning champions. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Divis ...

. On 3 March 2022, following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Krasnodar announced that his contract is suspended and he will not train with the team, but the contract is not terminated and remains valid.

Internacional

On 11 March 2022, Wanderson joined Internacional on loan until the end of 2022, with an option to buy. On 21 December 2022, FC Krasnodar announced that Internacional activated their option to buy, making the move permanent. Despite not being a prolific goalscorer, Wanderson has been a particular highlight for Inter as an assist-maker specially in the 2023 season, under coach

Eduardo Coudet Eduardo Germán Coudet (born 12 September 1974), nicknamed El Chacho, is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. He is the current head coach of La Liga club Alavés. Coudet played mainly as a right midfielder, representin ...

and pairing up with Ecuatorian striker

Enner Valencia Enner Remberto Valencia Lastra (born 4 November 1989) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Internacional and captains the Ecuador national team. Valencia previously played f ...

. He leaded the club with 12 assists during his second year in Porto Alegre. Nonetheless, he scored important goals during the wins against Bahia (28 May, home), rivals Grêmio (8 October, home), Cruzeiro (5 November, away) and Corinthians (2 December, away).

Personal life

Wanderson is the son of former footballer

Wamberto Wamberto de Jesus Sousa Campos (born 14 December 1974) is a Brazilian former footballer who last played as a forward and as a midfielder. He notably represented Ajax and Standard Liége. He was also nicknamed ''Wampie'' by Ajax supporters. B ...

, who notably represented

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

and Ajax. His older brother

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 ...

is also a midfielder, and was also an Ajax youth graduate. He also holds Belgian nationality.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2016–17 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2016–17 Individual *

Right Winger of the Season: 2018–19 *

Left Winger of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

*
Voetbal International profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanderson (footballer, born 1994 10) 1994 births Living people Footballers from Liège Brazilian men's footballers Belgian men's footballers Belgian people of Brazilian descent Men's association football wingers Belgian Pro League players Beerschot A.C. players Lierse S.K. players La Liga players Segunda División B players Russian Premier League players Getafe CF B players Getafe CF footballers Austrian Football Bundesliga players FC Red Bull Salzburg players FC Krasnodar players SC Internacional players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Russia 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen 21st-century Belgian sportsmen