Júnior Moraes

Aluísio Chaves Ribeiro Moraes Júnior (born 4 April 1987), commonly known as Júnior Moraes or just Moraes, is a Brazilian-born Ukrainian professional footballer who plays for Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine as a forward. He received Ukrainian citizenship in March 2019.[2]

This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Chaves Ribeiro and the second or paternal family name is Moraes.
Moraes
Moraes in 2018
Personal information
Full name Aluísio Chaves Ribeiro
Moraes Júnior
Date of birth (1987-04-04) 4 April 1987
Place of birth Santos, Brazil
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Shakhtar Donetsk
Number 10
Youth career
Santos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2009 Santos 16 (2)
2008 → Ponte Preta (loan) 0 (0)
2009 Santo André 2 (1)
2010–2011 Gloria Bistrița 32 (18)
2011–2012 CSKA Sofia 26 (17)
2012–2015 Metalurh Donetsk 63 (35)
2015–2018 Dynamo Kyiv 54 (22)
2017 → Tianjin Quanjian (loan) 3 (0)
2018– Shakhtar Donetsk 51 (38)
National team‡
2019– Ukraine 5 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 June 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22 August 2020

Biography

Moraes was born in a family of sportsmen. His father was a very good football player. He played for Flamengo and Santos. His brother Bruno also played for Santos and Porto and still in activity, while his sister ended her football career because of an injury. His mother was a Paulista tennis champion.[3]

He started to play football in São Paulo when he was 4 years old, being in the same group with Robinho.[3]

Career

Santos

Moraes was promoted to the senior team of Santos by coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo at the age of 18.

He then scored a goal in the 2007 Campeonato Paulista final between Santos and São Caetano, helping his side to the title.

Gloria Bistrița
Moraes playing for CSKA Sofia in 2011.

Moraes made an impressive debut in Liga I for Gloria Bistrița, scoring 10 goals in 17 appearances. His good run continued in the first part of the 2010–11 Liga I season as he accumulated a total of 18 goals for Gloria Bistrița in the Romanian championship.

Metalurh Donetsk

On 12 February 2011, Gloria Bistrița announced that Moraes was sold to Ukrainian Premier League squad Metalurh Donetsk, for a reported fee of €1.25 million.[4] However, Moraes never played a game for Metalurh before he rejoined the team in the summer of 2012.

CSKA Sofia

Before 2011–12 season Moraes joined Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia. He made his A Group debut on 12 September 2011 in a 3–0 home win over Lokomotiv Plovdiv, 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 season as joint top scorer with Ivan Stoyanov.

Dynamo Kyiv
Júnior Moraes with Dynamo Kyiv in 2015.

On 22 May 2015, Moraes signed a three-year contract with Dynamo Kyiv, who at the time have won the Ukrainian League which had automatically qualified them to the UEFA Champions League 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 against Shakhtar Donetsk, 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 in the Ukrainian Premier League 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 UEFA Champions League debut in a 2–2 draw against Portuguese club FC Porto in the group stage. On 29 September 2015, Moraes scored his first ever UEFA Champions League 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. In that season he helped Dynamo reach the 1/8 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 16 years, getting knocked out by Manchester City 1–3 on aggregate, as well as winning the Ukrainian Premier League.

Shakhtar Donetsk

On 18 June 2018, Moraes signed a two-year contract with Shakhtar Donetsk after his contract with his previous club and Shakhtar's UPL rival Dynamo Kyiv ran out.[5]

International career

Moraes indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for Ukraine national team if asked.[6][7] On 5 March 2019, Ukrainian journalist announced that Moraes has already filed for citizenship and awaits approval.[8] He received Ukrainian citizenship 13 days later by a decree of President Petro Poroshenko[2] and made his debut as a substituted player in the drawn match against Portugal national team on 22 March 2019.

Career statistics
As of match played 21 August 2020[9][10]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Santos 2007 Série A 151002042213
2008 1100004051
Total 162002082264
Ponte Preta (loan) 2008 Série B 0000000000
Total 0000000000
Santo André 2009 Série A 2100005172
Total 2100005172
Gloria Bistrița 2009–10 Liga I 17100000001710
2010–11 1583200001810
Total 32183200003520
CSKA Sofia 2011–12 A Group 24162100002617
Total 24162100002617
Metalurh Donetsk 2012–13 Ukrainian Premier League 23110042002713
2013–14 27191020003019
2014–15 135000000135
Total 63351062007037
Dynamo Kyiv 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League 207317110319
2016–17 16101261102413
2017–18 18510117003012
Total 542253249208534
Tianjin Quanjian (loan) 2017 Chinese Super League 3012000042
Total 3012000042
Shakhtar Donetsk 2018–19 Ukrainian Premier League 27193384103926
2019–20 272010126104126
Total 5139432010208052
Career total 24513316115221173333168

    International
    As of 11 October 2019
    Ukraine
    YearAppsGoals
    201950
    Total50

    Honours

    Santos

    CSKA Sofia

    Dynamo Kyiv

    Shakhtar Donetsk

    Individual
    • A PFG Player of the Year: 2011–12
    • A PFG Top Scorer: 2011–12 (16 goals)[11]
    • Ukrainian Premier League Top Scorer: 2018–19 (19 goals), 2019–20 (20 goals)

    References
    1. "Moraes Junior - FC Dynamo Kyiv. Official club website". www.fcdynamo.kiev.ua.
    2. (in Ukrainian) Forward Shakhtar Morais received Ukrainian citizenship, UNIAN (18 March 2019)
    3. "Júnior Moraes: "O să-l fac uitat pe Bogdan Stancu!"". adevarul.ro. Adevarul Holding. 23 January 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
    4. "Acum este oficial, Junior Moraes va juca la Metalurg Doneţk". gsp.ro. Gazeta Sporturilor. 12 February 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
    5. "Moraes transfer". shakhtar.com. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
    6. "The football Federation of Ukraine decided to strengthen the Brazilian national team". latestnewsresource.com. Latest News Resource. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
    7. "Мораес: был бы рад играть за сборную Украины" [Moraes: I would be happy to play for the Ukrainian team]. sportarena.com. Sport Arena. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
    8. Moraes filed documents to receive Ukrainian citizenship — source (Мораес подал документы для получения украинского гражданства – источник). UA-Football. 5 March 2019
    9. Júnior Moraes at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian) and StatisticsFootball.com
    10. Júnior Moraes at Soccerway
    11. "Bulgaria - A PFG Top goalscorers". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
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