37-year-old Junior Moraes has decided to hang up his boots.
Former forward of Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk and the Ukrainian national team Junior Moraes has ended his career as a football player.
The 37-year-old player announced this on his page in social networks X.
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“Today marks the end of a journey that has shaped me. Many years of dedication, perseverance and love for football. My story began early, and it was on the pitch that I truly found myself. I played for good clubs, experienced incredible moments, but also faced challenges that made me grow as an athlete and as a person.
With each club, I learned, achieved success and shared the joy of victory with my teams, who became lifelong friends. Each team and goal was an important part of my journey. But it's time to say goodbye. A difficult moment that also made me feel grateful for the entire journey. Football, thank you for everything,” Moraes said.
Moraes played for Ukrainian clubs from 2011 to 2022. At first, the forward played for Donetsk Metalurh and Kyiv Dynamo, and in 2018, with a scandal, he moved to Shakhtar. In total, Junior played 172 matches in the UPL, scoring 96 goals.
Together with the Kyiv team, Moraes became the 2015/16 UPL champion and the 2016 Ukrainian Super Cup winner. As part of the Miners, Junior won the Ukrainian championship twice (2018/19, 2019/20) and triumphed in the 2018/19 Ukrainian Cup. For two seasons in a row (2018/19 and 2019/20), he became the UPL's top scorer.
In 2019, the Brazilian received Ukrainian citizenship and was called up to the national team. As part of the “blue-yellows”, he played 11 matches and scored one goal.
The last club in Moraes' career was the Brazilian “Corinthians”, for which he played 15 matches between 2022 and 2023.
Since the full-scale Russian military invasion, Junior has repeatedly expressed support for the Ukrainian people, and also played in the Game4Ukraine charity match.
