The dream of millions of Brazilian players of playing in Europe, in the best leagues in the world, such as Spain, England, Italy and France, often ends up in a less glamorous destination: Ukrainian football. A story that began almost 20 years ago after Ukrainians decided to prioritize Brazilian football.
The Ukrainian Football League has just 16 clubs in the top division, where Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev have been the sole champions for 29 years, with teams full of Brazilians.
Currently, 30 Brazilian athletes play in the first division of Ukrainian football. That bet started with a Romanian. Mircea Lucescu, coach who won nine national titles in Ukraine (eight with Shakhtar and one with rival Dynamo Kiev), is a self-confessed fan of Brazilian football. When he was hired in 2004, he asked for the hiring of athletes claiming that “Brazilians play pure football”.
Lucescu had won the UEFA Cup with Galatasaray, from Turkey, in charge of Taffarel and Jardel, both players for the Brazilian national team, and Shakhtar already had experience with a signing from Brazil: striker Brandão, ex-São Caetano.
With the arrival of the Romanian coach in 2004, the Brazilians began to dominate the vacancies. Among others, Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa, Elano and Luiz Adriano have played for the club, all of whom have played for the national team.
Currently, Shakhtar has an Italian coaching staff, but the presence of Brazilians remains strong. There are 13 players: Dodô, Vitão, Marlon, Vinícius Tobias, Ismaily, Marcos Antonio, Maycon, David Neres, Tetê, Alan Patrick, Pedrinho, Fernandinho and Junior Moraes.
National idols, three Brazilians ended up becoming Ukrainians to defend the European team. Striker Junior Moraes and midfielders Marlos and Edmar Lacerda were called up for the Euro Cup and World Cup qualifiers.
Marlos left Shakhtar in December 2021 after a decade at the club and the title of best player in Ukraine. Edmar, who arrived in the country in 2002 and retired in 2019, married a Ukrainian, even incorporated his wife’s surname, changing his name to Edmar Aparecido Galovskyi de Lacerda.
Of the three, the only one who remains in Ukraine is Junior Moraes. He appears in the video posted on a social network in which a group of Brazilian players from Shakhtar and Dynamo ask for help to leave Ukraine. In the message, defender Marlon spoke on behalf of the group:
“We are all gathered here, Dynamo and Shakhtar players with our families, and we are staying here at the hotel due to the whole situation. We are here asking for your help to promote this video. Due to the lack of fuel in the city, closed borders, closed airspace, so there is no way for us to leave. We ask a lot of support from the government of Brazil, which can help us. I hope you can help us by promoting this video and reaching as many people as possible.”
The other Brazilians in Ukrainian football are: Vitinho (Dínamo Kiev), Paulinho, David and Matheus Peixoto (Metalist Kharkiv), Lucas Rangel (Vorksla Poltava), Willian (Ingulets Petrov), Diego Carioca and Renan Oliveira (Kolos Kovalivka), Busanello, Felipe Pires and Bill (SK Dnipro), Juninho, Guilherme Smith and Cristian (Zorya Lugansk), Wanderson (Chornomorets Odesa), Edson and Talles (FC Rukh Vynnyki).
Source: CNN Brasil
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