Mário Figueira Fernandes (Russian:Марио Фигейра Фернандес,pronounced[ˈmarʲɪofʲɪˈɡʲejrəfʲɪrˈnandɨs]; born 19 September 1990) is a professionalfootballer who plays as aright-back. Born in Brazil, he played for theRussia national team.^[3]

Mário Fernandes

Fernandes playing forCSKA Moscow in 2021
Personal information
Full name	Mário Figueira Fernandes
Date of birth	(1990-09-19)19 September 1990 (age 34)[1]
Place of birth	São Caetano do Sul, Brazil
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Position(s)	Right-back
Youth career
2006–2009	São Caetano
2009	Grêmio
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009–2012	Grêmio	87	(3)
2012–2022	CSKA Moscow	259	(9)
2023	Internacional	5	(0)
2023–2024	Zenit Saint Petersburg	12	(0)
International career‡
2014	Brazil	1	(0)
2017–2021	Russia	33	(5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 9 March 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 September 2021

Fernandes joinedGrêmio in March 2009, signing until 2014. A few days later, he disappeared, and Brazilian police were called in to search for him. He was found some days later inSão Paulo state, after having withdrawn cash inLondrina,Porto Alegre andFlorianópolis. Fernandes made his debut for the club againstSport on 28 June 2009. Fernandes established himself as Grêmio's first-choice right back.^[4]

On 25 April 2012, the Grêmio president announced that a 15 million euro deal had been agreed withCSKA Moscow and Fernandes was set to join them pending a medical examination, with CSKA announcing the arrival on 4 May 2012.^[5]

During the 2013–14 campaign he suffered a knee injury ruling him out for the first four months of the season.^[6]

In 2015, he was a key player in the Champions League 3rd qualifying round – CSKA Moscow won the second leg against Sparta Prague 3–2. Fernandes played 90 minutes, after 64 minutes (2:2) and after a run of the mill challenge Fernandes made a simulated dive, referee Paolo Mazzoleni showedMarek Matějovský the red card. Russian daily Kommersant wrote it was "An important theatre piece". Czech newspapers claimed the play was certainly not card worthy and Fernandes lacked fair play.^[7]

On 29 June 2017, Fernandes signed a new contract with CSKA, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2022.^[8]

On 18 May 2022, Fernandes announced that he would be suspending his contract with CSKA following their last game of the2021–22 season againstRostov on 21 May 2022 for personal reasons.^[9] On 11 December 2022, CSKA announced that Fernandes had decided to resume his playing career, whilst also remaining in Brazil for 2023.^[10]

On 13 December 2022,Internacional announced the signing of Fernandes from CSKA Moscow for the 2023 season.^[11] CSKA Moscow announced the transfer as a year-long loan.^[12] In the summer of 2023 CSKA and Internacional negotiated about a transfer that would return Fernandes to CSKA, but the talks stalled due to CSKA's refusal to pay Internacional for the departed player – formally the move to Internacional was a permanent transfer, and not a loan per se.

On 17 July 2023, Fernandes signed a one-year contract withZenit St.Petersburg, with the option of an additional year.^[13] On 24 July 2024, Fernandes left Zenit by mutual agreement.^[14]

In 2011, Fernandes was called to theBrazil squad for theSuperclásico de las Américas, which he rejected, citing personal issues. Fernandes went on to make his debut, and only appearance for Brazil in a 4–0 friendly victory againstJapan on 14 October 2014.^[15]

After acquiring Russian citizenship, he was called up to theRussia national football team for the friendly games in 2016, againstTurkey on 31 August andGhana on 6 September.^[16] However, at that point, he had only been aCSKA Moscow player since April 2012, which meant he had not lived in Russia continuously for at least five years yet. Thus, he was not eligible to play forRussia until April 2017.^{[citation needed]}

On 23 March 2017, it was announced that he would make his debut for Russia on 24 March in a friendly againstIvory Coast.^[17] He did not appear in that game. He made his debut for Russia on 7 October 2017 in a friendly game againstSouth Korea.^[18]

On 11 May 2018, he was included in Russia's extended2018 FIFA World Cup squad.^[19] On 3 June 2018, he was included in the finalized World Cup squad.^[20]He played a key role in Russia's performance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In the quarter finals againstCroatia, he scored an equalising goal in extra time, which sent the match to a penalty shootout. However, Russia was eliminated after losing the shootout, where he missed his penalty.^[21]

On 11 May 2021, he was included in the preliminary extended 30-man squad forUEFA Euro 2020.^[22] On 2 June 2021, he was included in the final squad.^[23] He played the full match in Russia's opening game againstBelgium on 12 June 2021 as Russia lost 0–3.^[24] He started the second group game againstFinland but got injured and substituted in the 26th minute after landing awkwardly contesting an aerial ball.^[25][26] He recovered for the last group game againstDenmark on 21 June and played a full game as Russia lost 1–4 and was eliminated.^[27]

On 13 September 2021, he announced his retirement from the national team.^[28]

Fernandes was born inSão Paulo. Right after signing his first professional contract with Grêmio, Fernandes found it hard to adjust to a new home and fell into depression, prompting him to disappear to his uncle. The police found him in a dishevelled state nearly 700 miles away fromPorto Alegre, hungry and exhausted. In a later interview he refused to disclose why he made no attempt to contact the club during this time, but pointed out the difficulties of settling at the beginning of a career, citing the example ofJesús Navas.^[4] He underwentpsychotherapy to deal with hisdepression, which helped his performances, but still drank heavily, regularly went out clubbing, and neglected his diet and fitness, saying "I would drink so much that I would sometimes show up drunk to training". During this time he lived alone, and in an interview admitted to "eating pizza andMcDonald's every day", which led to action on the part of the Gremio dietitian.^[29]

Fernandes had spoken with CSKA CEO Roman Babaev about the possibility of receiving Russian citizenship in 2015, before he had been called up to the Brazil squad. His talks about receiving Russian citizenship resumed in the autumn of the same year, at which point he had decided and had the full support of his family to do so.^[30] On 13 July 2016, he received Russian citizenship viapresidential decree fromVladimir Putin, which according to him made him more determined to start for Russia in the World Cup.^[31] His younger brother,Jô, is also a footballer.^[32]

As of 2017, Fernandes spoke very littleRussian, but stated his intent to learn the language and the national anthem.^[30]

As of match played 13 March 2024^[33]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

As of 1 September 2021^[34]

As of match played 30 March 2021. Russia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Fernandes goal.

Grêmio

• Campeonato Gaúcho:2010

CSKA Moscow

• Russian Premier League:2012–13,2013–14,2015–16
• Russian Cup:2012–13
• Russian Super Cup:2014,2018^[35]

Zenit Saint Petersburg

• Russian Premier League:2023–24^[36]
• Russian Cup:2023–24^[37]

Individual

• Silver Ball: 2011
• Campeonato Gaúcho Team of the Championship:2010
• CSKA Fans' Player of the Year: 2018–19^[38]
• Russian Premier League Right back of the Year:2013–14,2014–15,2016–17,2018–19,2020–21,2021–22

• Profile on CSKA Moscow website
• Profile on Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense website
• goal.com