 Taison withPAOK in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Taison Barcellos Freda[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1988-01-13)13 January 1988 (age 37)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Pelotas, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Left winger Wide midfielder Attacking midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | PAOK | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2008–2010 | Internacional | 102 | (28) |
| 2010–2012 | Metalist Kharkiv | 57 | (13) |
| 2013–2021 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 182 | (37) |
| 2021–2023 | Internacional | 41 | (7) |
| 2023– | PAOK | 77 | (9) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2016–2018 | Brazil | 8 | (1) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 3 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 30 May 2019 | |||
Taison Barcellos Freda (born 13 January 1988), simply known asTaison, is a Brazilian professionalfootballer who plays as aleft winger orattacking midfielder forSuper League Greece clubPAOK.
Taison started his career with Brazilian clubInternacional and quickly rose to prominence within their youth set up, becoming one of the brightest prospects at the club. After making his first team debut in 2008, he went on to become an instrumental part of the team, subsequently winning theCopa Sudamericana. His great form continued into the next season, where he won theCampeonato Gaúcho, theSuruga Bank Championship, and finished as runner-up in theCopa do Brasil. Taison's first stint at the club reached its conclusion in great fashion with the2010 Copa Libertadores title.[4]
After being linked with a host of clubs across Europe, includingWolfsburg andNapoli Taison eventually signed for Ukrainian clubMetalist Kharkiv for an approximate fee of 6 million euros. He started brightly inUkraine and even pippedWillian to the "best new signing" accolade. The Brazilian scored an incredibleMarco van Basten style volley againstRosenborg BK on 8 November 2012 in theEuropa League. In the same game he also provided the assist for the second in a 3–1 win.[5]
Taison signed withShakhtar Donetsk on 1 January 2013 for a fee of around £12.4 million.[2] He made his debut for Shakhtar in theChampions League againstBorussia Dortmund in a 2–2 draw on 13 February 2013. He scored his first goal for Shakhtar and was named Man of the Match[6] in a 3–3 draw withMetalurh Zaporizhya on 19 May 2013, scoring an equalising goal in the 92nd minute.[7] Taison scored in a 3–0 victory overChornomorets Odesa in the2012–13 Ukrainian Cupfinal.[8] On 10 July 2013 Taison scored in a 3–1 victory over Chornomorets in theUkrainian Super Cup.[9] In November 2019 he was sent-off after reacting to allegedracist abuse,[10][11] and was also given a one-match ban.[12]
On 16 April 2021,Internacional announced that Taison would be returning to his boyhood club after 11 years, signing a contract until 2023.[13] The athlete took a significant paycut in order to make the deal happen, refusing more lucrative offers from various other clubs in order to return to Inter.[14]
On 14 January 2023, Taison joined Greek clubPAOK for 1.5 years.[15] Taison won theGreek Superleague with PAOK in 2024, with the Brazilian scoring the winning goal against arch rivalsAris Thessaloniki, to win the league for PAOK on the last game of the season.
In an interview with the coach of theUkraine national team,Mykhaylo Fomenko spoke of him as a possible naturalized. Taison indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for Ukraine if asked.[16][17][18][19] But on 22 August 2016, newly appointed managerTite has called him up for theBrazil national team. On 13 June 2017, Taison scored his first international goal in a match againstAustralia, that ended 4–0. He scored the 3rd goal of the match.
In May 2018, he was named in Tite’s final23 man squad for the2018 World Cup inRussia.[20]
| Club | Season | League | State league[a] | National cup[b] | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Internacional | 2008 | Série A | 30 | 2 | — | — | 6[c] | 0 | — | 36 | 2 | |||
| 2009 | 28 | 4 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 2[c] | 0 | 2[d] | 0 | 63 | 26 | ||
| 2010 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 4 | — | 11[e] | 0 | — | 36 | 7 | ||||
| Total | 69 | 9 | 33 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 135 | 35 | ||
| Metalist Kharkiv | 2010–11 | Ukrainian Premier League | 21 | 8 | — | 0 | 0 | 6[f] | 1 | — | 27 | 9 | ||
| 2011–12 | 23 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | 13[f] | 5 | — | 36 | 7 | ||||
| 2012–13 | 13 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | 6[f] | 1 | — | 20 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 57 | 13 | — | 1 | 0 | 25 | 7 | — | 83 | 20 | ||||
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2012–13 | Ukrainian Premier League | 11 | 2 | — | 3 | 1 | 2[g] | 0 | — | 16 | 3 | ||
| 2013–14 | 19 | 1 | — | 4 | 1 | 8[h] | 1 | 1[i] | 1 | 32 | 4 | |||
| 2014–15 | 21 | 4 | — | 6 | 0 | 8[g] | 0 | 1[i] | 0 | 36 | 4 | |||
| 2015–16 | 18 | 6 | — | 6 | 1 | 17[j] | 1 | 1[i] | 0 | 42 | 8 | |||
| 2016–17 | 24 | 5 | — | 3 | 1 | 12[k] | 4 | 1[i] | 0 | 40 | 10 | |||
| 2017–18 | 24 | 4 | — | 3 | 2 | 8[g] | 1 | 1[i] | 0 | 36 | 7 | |||
| 2018–19 | 25 | 3 | — | 3 | 0 | 7[l] | 3 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 6 | |||
| 2019–20 | 25 | 10 | — | 1 | 0 | 11[m] | 1 | 1[i] | 0 | 38 | 11 | |||
| 2020–21 | 15 | 2 | — | 1 | 0 | 7[n] | 0 | 1[i] | 0 | 24 | 2 | |||
| Total | 182 | 37 | — | 30 | 6 | 80 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 299 | 55 | |||
| Internacional | 2021 | Série A | 22 | 4 | — | 2 | 0 | 5[e] | 0 | — | 29 | 4 | ||
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | — | 11 | 3 | |||
| Total | 23 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 40 | 7 | |||
| PAOK | 2022–23 | Super League Greece | 14 | 1 | — | 5 | 1 | — | — | 19 | 2 | |||
| 2023–24 | 29 | 5 | — | 5 | 0 | 16[o] | 3 | — | 50 | 8 | ||||
| 2024–25 | 25 | 2 | — | 3 | 1 | 14[p] | 4 | — | 42 | 7 | ||||
| 2025–26 | 11 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | 4[f] | 0 | — | 16 | 3 | ||||
| Total | 79 | 11 | — | 14 | 2 | 34 | 7 | — | 127 | 20 | ||||
| Career total | 410 | 74 | 42 | 22 | 59 | 15 | 164 | 25 | 9 | 1 | 684 | 137 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 2016 | 2 | 0 |
| 2017 | 3 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 8 | 1 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 June 2017 | Melbourne Cricket Ground,Melbourne, Australia |  Australia | 3–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
Internacional
Shakhtar Donetsk
PAOK
Individual
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