Quick Facts
Biography
Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso, or simply Elkeson, (born July 13, 1989 in Coelho Neto) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or as a forward. He currently plays for Shanghai SIPG of the Chinese Super League.
Starting out at Vitória, he played mostly as an attacking midfielder and as a winger, but since his final days at Botafogo, he was moved to attack and has played as a striker.
Club career
Elkeson first played for Vitória's youth academy before signing with the first team in 2009. During the 2010 season, Elkeson proved himself a breakout success and soon earned himself a move to Botafogo in May 2011.
After two years of being one of Botafogo's star players in the Brasileirão, Guangzhou Evergrande of the Chinese Super League secured his services at the end of the 2012 season.
On 24 December 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande officially announced that they had signed Elkeson on a four-year deal for a fee of €5.7 million. He was not initially included in Guangzhou's 30-player squad for the 2013 AFC Champions League due to the limit on foreign players. On 3 March 2013, he made his debut for Guangzhou in the 2013 Chinese FA Super Cup which Guangzhou Evergrande lost to Jiangsu Sainty 2–1. On 8 March 2013, Elkeson scored his first two goals in China in the opening match of 2013 Chinese Super League against Shanghai Shenxin, which ensured Guangzhou Evergrande's 5-1 victory. He scored thirteen goals in his first seven matches in the league. In July 2013, Elkeson was named in the squad which was submitted for the next stage of the AFC Champions League, replacing Lucas Barrios who had decided to return to Europe.
He scored twenty-four goals in twenty-eight appearances in the Super League which made him the top goalscorer of the season, eight more than the second-placed Carmelo Valencia. He scored six goals in six matches in the AFC Champions League, including two goals in the both legs of 2013 AFC Champions League Final against FC Seoul as Guangzhou was crowned champion of the competition for the first time.
On 1 December 2013 in the first leg of 2013 Chinese FA Cup final against Guizhou Renhe, he was sent off after striking Yang Hao in the face with his hand. On 5 December, he received a ban of 4 matches and was fined ¥20,000 by Chinese Football Association discipline committee.
Guangzhou Evergrande finally lost to Guizhou Renhe 3–2 on aggregate, failing to defend the FA Cup title. Elkeson played all three matches for Guangzhou Evergrande in the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup. On 14 December 2013, he scored Guangzhou's first goal in the FIFA Club World Cup against African champions Al Ahly in the quarter-finals, helping Guangzhou win the match 2–0.
In March 2015, after a match against Changchun Yatai he was heavily criticised for annulling team mate's Gao Lin's certain bicycle kick goal by attempting to poach the goal for himself by just brushing the ball on the line with his head, which meant ultimately that the goal was (correctly) ruled offside and the team only drew the match 1-1.
On 21 January 2016, Elkeson moved to fellow Super League side Shanghai SIPG with a fee of ¥132 million (€18.5 million).
International career
In September 2011, Elkeson received his first call up for Brazil national football team by Mano Menezes for the second leg of 2011 Superclásico de las Américas against Argentina. However, he didn't play for Brazil in the match.
Career statistics
- As of 20 December 2015
| Club | Year | National Championship | National Cup | State Championship[a] | South American Competitions[b] | Others [c] | Total | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | |||
 Vitória | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 15 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 2010 | 34 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 63 | 9 | 15 | ||
| 2011 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 21 | 7 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 47 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 99 | 18 | 16 | ||
| Botafogo | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 35 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | – | 38 | 8 | 11 | ||||
| 2012 | 31 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | 54 | 18 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 66 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | – | 92 | 26 | 17 | ||||
| Club | Year | Chinese Super League | Chinese FA Cup | – | AFC Champions League | Others [d] | Total | |||||||||||||
| Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | – | Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | Games | Goals | Ass. | |||||
 Guangzhou Evergrande | 2013 | 28 | 24 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | – | 6 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 32 | 13 | |||
| 2014 | 28 | 28 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 10 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 34 | 5 | ||||
| 2015 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 11 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 10 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 72 | 59 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 2 | – | 27 | 15 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 111 | 76 | 24 | ||||
| Career Total | 185 | 85 | 38 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 49 | 14 | 11 | 35 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 302 | 120 | 57 | ||
Honours
Club
- Vitória
- Campeonato Baiano: 2009, 2010
- Copa do Nordeste: 2010
- Guangzhou Evergrande
- AFC Champions League: 2013, 2015
- Chinese Super League: 2013, 2014, 2015
International
- Brazil
- Superclásico de las Américas : 2011
Individual
- AFC Champions League Dream Team: 2013, 2014
- Chinese Football Association Footballer of the Year: 2014
- Chinese Super League Golden Boot winner: 2013, 2014
- Chinese Super League Team of the Year: 2013, 2014