João Morelli Neto (born 11 March 1996) is a Brazilian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward.

Early life

Morelli was born and raised in the city of

Itu The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...

São Paulo state SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

. In 2013, he joined the under-17 team of local club Ituano, where he scored three goals in eight appearances, primarily as a substitute. The following year, he was promoted to the under-20 team, where he made another five appearances.

Club career

Middlesbrough

In March 2015, Morelli signed a contract with

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side

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

until the end of the season, the result of Boro's partnership with Ituano. In the 2016–17 season, he made ten appearances in

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of Football in England, English youth association football, football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Th ...

for Middlesbrough's under-23 side, scoring two goals. Over the course of his first two years at the club, he scored eleven goals in 41 appearances in all competitions for Middlesbrough's under-23s.

Loan to FCI Levadia

On 20 February 2017, Morelli signed a one-year contract extension with

before going on a year-long loan to Estonian

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (), officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded i ...

side FCI Levadia Tallinn. In 22 league appearances that season, he scored sixteen goals, tying for fifth in league scoring. Morelli also played 90 minutes in both legs of Levadia's Europa League first qualifying round series against Irish club

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Fleetwood Town

On 31 January 2018, Morelli signed an 18-month contract with

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side Fleetwood Town. Shortly after he signed for the club, manager Uwe Rösler was sacked and replaced by

Joey Barton Joseph Anthony Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Barton made 269 appearances in the Premier League, including 130 for Manchester City; he was most recentl ...

, under whom Morelli later recounted feeling "lost" after a drastic change of tactics and position. He subsequently failed to make a competitive appearance for the Fishermen and was released at the end of the season.

Return to Ituano

On 29 August 2018, Morelli returned to Ituano, where he made nine appearances and scored two goals in the

Copa Paulista The Copa Paulista de Futebol, formerly known as Copa FPF, also sometimes called Copa Federação Paulista de Futebol or, in English, São Paulo State Cup, is a tournament organized by Federação Paulista de Futebol Company every second half of ...

Return to Levadia

On 27 December 2018, Morelli returned to FCI Levadia, signing a two-year contract. He made 29 league appearances that season, scoring eleven goals. He also appeared for Levadia in the

Estonian Supercup The Estonian Supercup () is Estonian football's annual super cup, contested between the champions of the previous Meistriliiga season and the holders of the Estonian Cup. If the Meistriliiga champions also won the Estonian Cup, then the league ...

and scored a goal in one appearance in the

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup () is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round. Finals ...

. Later in the season, he played every minute of both legs in Levadia's extra-time loss to Icelandic club

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

in Europa League qualifying.

HFX Wanderers and retirement

On February 25, 2020, Morelli signed with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

side HFX Wanderers. He made his debut for the Wanderers on August 15 against

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, and converted a penalty in an eventual 2–2 draw. After a very strong

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, Morelli was the Golden Boot winner in the CPL, netting 14 goals in 21 games and was nominated for the CPL Player of the Year award on December 5, 2021. On December 12, the Wanderers announced Morelli had signed a contract extension through 2023. Two days later, on December 14, at the CPL awards ceremony, Morelli was named the 2021 CPL Player of the Year. During the Wanderers' second game of the 2022 season against

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spanish club Atlético Madrid. History F ...

on April 16, Morelli suffered an ACL injury, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. In July 2023, Morelli was officially cleared to play again, as the club signed him to a new contract extension, adding a club option for 2024. On July 31, he scored his first goal since returning from injury in a 2–0

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victory over

York United York United Football Club (formerly known as York9 FC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at York University's York Lions Stadium. History ...

. He went on to score four goals in nine appearances for Halifax, before missing out on the final games of the regular season, as well as the play-offs, due to a new injury. On November 3, 2023, Morelli officially announced his retirement from football, citing his will to take care of his family as the main reason behind his choice. At the time of his retirement, the forward was the all-time leading scorer for the Wanderers, having scored 24 goals in 43 games for the club, as well as the joint-fifth highest scorer in the history of the CPL (22 goals). In June 2024, he was sanctioned for doping, receiving an 18 month ban, from a sample collected in August 2023 that tested positive for clomiphene metabolites.

Career statistics

Honours

HFX Wanderers *

**Runners-up:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual

Goal of the Month: October 2017 * Canadian Premier League Golden Boot:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

*Canadian Premier League Player of the Year: 2021

References

External links

Inspired by Kaká, HFX newcomer João Morelli hopes to make a big impact in CPL

João Morelli fala de experiência no futebol da Estônia e brinca com costume pós-jogo no país: a sauna

* [https://trivela.com.br/gramados-artificiais-frio-e-toque-de-bola-joao-morelli-conta-sobre-como-e-jogar-na-estonia/ Gramados artificiais, frio e toque de bola: João Morelli conta sobre como é jogar na Estônia] {{DEFAULTSORT:Morelli, João 1996 births Living people Men's association football forwards Brazilian men's footballers People from Itu, São Paulo Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Estonia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Estonia Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Middlesbrough F.C. players FCI Levadia Tallinn players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Ituano FC players HFX Wanderers FC players Canadian Premier League players Meistriliiga players Footballers from São Paulo (state) 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen