Welliton Soares de Morais (born 22 October 1986), or simply Welliton, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a forward. During his time at Spartak Moscow, Welliton was a very prolific scorer and won the Russian Premier League top scorer title in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Welliton has not been called up by Brazil and has expressed interest in representing Russia.
After playing in Russia for over three years, Welliton said it would be an honour to play for the national team, citing his preparation as a reason. However, Welliton's decision to play for Russia was met with a mixed reception, with then Russia's captain Andrey Arshavin and Leonid Fedun arguing against having Welliton in the squad, while the president of Russian Football Union, Sergey Fursenko, Miroslav Romaschenko and public opinion in Russia supported Welliton to play for the national side.
In November 2011 Spartak Moscow announced they were in the process of helping Welliton acquire a Russian passport. Should Welliton represented the Russia national team, he would be the first foreign footballer born outside of Russia to do so. However, the process of never happened.
Born and raised in Conceição do Araguaia, Brazil, Welliton grew up in poor family and has two older brother and a younger sister. On 27 July 2007, Welliton became a father when his wife, Monica, gave birth to a son, Kayu. Welliton and Monica were married when they were sixteen. Welliton also has a tattoo on his left arm with his mother name, Yolanda.
In May 2014, Welliton was arrested for driving under influence in Spain. Welliton was charged and had his driving revoked, in addition, of 9000 euros.
Russian English Premier League Hat-Trick 2010-08-21 | Russian English Premier League Hat-Trick 2010-08-15 | Russian English Premier League Hat-Trick 2009-08-08 |
2005-2007 |
2005 (Loan) |
2007-2014 |
2013 (Loan) |
2013 (Loan) |
2014-2016 |
2014 (Loan) |
2016-2017 |
2017-2019 |
2019-2020 |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022 |