Maicon Pereira de Oliveira (8 May 1988 – 8 February 2014) commonly known as Maicon, was a Brazilian 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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

for most of his professional career.

Career

Volyn Lutsk

Maicon was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil. In 2009, he moved to

club

Volyn Lutsk FC Volyn Lutsk ( ) was a Ukrainian association football, football club based in Lutsk. Since its establishment in 1960, the club became the only major (professional) football club within Volyn Oblast and uncontested leader of football in the reg ...

from Atlético Mogi. In his first season with the club he scored 13 goals in 18 matches in the First League (Persha Liha), guiding Volyn to promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

after a second-place finish. He made a further three cup appearances, however he failed to score a goal in them. In his second season, he was unable to keep up his scoring rate from the previous season and, despite netting a hat trick in the

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

, he was loaned to Steaua București for the second half of the season. He scored 5 goals in 16 appearances in his second season with the club, including just 2 goals from 15 league matches.

Loan to Steaua

On 21 February 2011, Maicon was loaned out for four months to the Romanian team Steaua București with an option for purchase at the end of the 2010–11 Liga I season. On 13 April 2011, in his second match at Steaua, he scored his first goal and the only goal in Steaua's victory against

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

leader Oţelul Galaţi. On 16 April 2011, coming on in the 72nd minute, he scored the equalizer goal in 80th minute and victory goal in 86th minute against Sportul Studenţesc. At the end of the season, he returned to his club in Ukraine.

Return to Volyn

His second season in the

proved much more successful. During the 2011–12 season, he scored 14 goals in the league and 5 in the cup and was the club's top goalscorer. He finished the season with 19 goals from 28 matches and was top goalscorer in the

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

. He also tied

Yevhen Seleznyov Yevhen Oleksandrovych Seleznyov (; born 20 July 1985) is a former Ukrainian professional footballer. He previously played three spells at Shakhtar Donetsk, winning the UEFA Cup in 2009, and a domestic double three years later. He was the league ...

as top goalscorer in the league. Due to an impressive 2011–12 season, he attracted the interest of reigning Premier League champions

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

, joining them on a free transfer.

Shakhtar Donetsk

In the summer of 2012, Maicon joined

on a free transfer. He signed a three-year contract. On 4 September it was announced that Maicon would join

Zorya Zorya (Literal translation, lit. "Dawn"; also many variants: Zarya, Zaria, Zorza, Zirnytsia, Zaranitsa, Zoryushka, etc.) is a figure in Slavic folklore, a feminine personification of dawn, possibly goddess. Depending on tradition, she may appear ...

on loan for six months before joining up with Shakhtar again during the winter break.

Zorya Luhansk

Because he joined Shakhtar after the season had begun

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

, the Shakhtar manager, decided to loan him to Zorya for the first half of the season. But then he was registered by Ukrainian Premier League as a player, who belongs for Zorya, but not on loan. He made his debut on 15 September 2012, coming on as a second-half substitute against club Shakhtar Donetsk. Zorya lost the match 3–0.

Death

In February 2014,

Illichivets Mariupol Football Club Mariupol ( ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Mariupol, that competed in the Ukrainian Premier League. The club ceased to exist as a result of the Siege of Mariupol, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. ...

were conducting its winter training in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

where on 6 February it played the last friendly match against the Polish side

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

. Maicon spent the first half on the field, yet the Ukrainian team lost 2–1. This turned out to be Maicon's last game. On 7 February the team returned to Ukraine where it was given three days to rest. The next morning, on 8 February around 4 o'clock in the morning while returning home on his

Hyundai Elantra The Hyundai Elantra (), also known as the Hyundai Avante (), is a compact car produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai since 1990. The Elantra was initially marketed as the ''Lantra'' in Australia and some European markets. In Austra ...

near the Kalinin Hospital in

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

on prospekt Illicha (Illich Avenue), Maicon entered the ongoing traffic side of the street when maneuvering to pass a vehicle that signalled for a turn to the nearest gas station. While passing on the ongoing traffic lane, the footballer's vehicle made a

head-on collision A head-on collision is a traffic collision where the front ends of two vehicles such as cars, trains, ships or planes hit each other when travelling in opposite directions, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision. Rail trans ...

with a

Škoda Superb The Škoda Superb is a Mid-size car, mid-size/large family car (D-segment) that has been produced by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto since 2001. The first generation of the modern Superb, produced from 2001 to 2008, was based on the Volk ...

, after which it hit a pole. With multiple injuries, the driver of the Škoda ended up in hospital in a critical condition, while Maicon died on the scene. A possible cause of death was injury to the skull as he hit a stand with his head. The automobile given to him had collided at a speed of . Most likely, Maicon was returning from the night club "Litsa" () where he was seen with

Alex Teixeira Alex Teixeira Santos (; born 6 January 1990) is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club CR Vasco da Gama, Vasco da Gama. Teixeira ...

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

, and

Douglas Costa Douglas Costa de Souza (born 14 September 1990) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger for A-League club Sydney FC. He is known for his dribbling skills, speed, acceleration, and crossing ability. Costa started his care ...

. The club confirmed the news in an official statement that morning. Shakhtar said that the Brazilian, 25, was a "wonderful person". "He was a talented footballer, open and friendly guy," the club added. "It is a terrible bereavement for each of us." Maicon was on loan to Ukrainian league club Illichivets Mariupol until the end of the season. He joined Shakhtar Donetsk on a free transfer in 2012 from fellow Ukrainian side Volyn Lutsk and made six appearances, scoring one goal. Shakhtar said that his contract would be paid in full to his family as he had a 7-year-old daughter and elderly parents.

References

External links

*
profile on Volyn Lutsk's official site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maicon 1988 births 2014 deaths Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Ukrainian Premier League top scorers Liga I players Men's association football forwards Fluminense FC players CR Flamengo footballers FC Volyn Lutsk players FCSB players FCSB II players FC Zorya Luhansk players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players FC Mariupol players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Road incident deaths in Ukraine 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen