Marcos Pinheiro Pizzelli (; ; born 3 October 1984), commonly known as Marcos, is a former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er. Born in Brazil, Marcos represented

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

internationally between 2008 and 2019.

Club career

Ararat Yerevan

Pizzelli started his career at the Brazilian club

São Carlos São Carlos (Saint Charles, in English, ; named after Charles Borromeo, Saint Charles Borromeo) is a Brazilian city and municipality in the Interior of São Paulo, interior of the state of São Paulo, 254 kilometers from the city of São Paulo. ...

as a youth from 2000 to 2005. In 2006, the young talent was spotted by an agent from

Ararat Yerevan Football Club Ararat Yerevan (), commonly known as Ararat Yerevan, is an Armenia, Armenian professional Association football, football club based in Yerevan that plays in the Armenian Premier League. Since 1999 the club has been owned by the Sw ...

, who soon recruited Pizzelli. His debut took place on 30 April in a game against

Ulisses Ulisses is a Portuguese-language given name. It is the Portuguese form of the English name Ulysses, which itself derives from a Latin form of Odysseus (a legendary Greek king). People with the name * Ulisses Soares (born 1958), Brazilian official ...

. Pizzelli entered the field in the 58th minute of the match, replacing Tigran Yesayan. His first goal for Ararat happened on 16 June in another game against

. For the first season Pizzelli focused on adapting, and the next on scoring goals. With his good performances, Pizzelli was the leading scorer in the

Armenian Premier League The Armenian Premier League (, known as the Armenian Fastex Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top association football, football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the competition was held as a regional tournament within th ...

twice with Ararat, scoring 22 goals during the

2007 Armenian Premier League The 2007 Armenian Premier League season is the sixteenth since its establishment, and started on 14 April 2007. The last matches were played on 10 November 2007. FC Pyunik were the defending champions. Participating teams * Lernayin Artsakh are ...

and scoring 17 goals during that 2008 Armenian Premier League. As a result of the financial problems that befell Ararat, the club decided to loan Pizzelli to the amateur club of the French 5th Division – Ararat (Issy-les-Moulineaux).

Pyunik Yerevan

Six months later, in the summer of 2009, Pizzelli's contract with

ended, and, as a free agent, he accepted offer of FC Yerevan Pyunik. In July, he signed a long-term contract. With Pizzelli playing for Pyunik, the club won the

2009 Armenian Premier League The 2009 Armenian Premier League season was the eighteenth since its establishment. The season began on 21 March 2009 and ended on 7 November 2009. FC Pyunik were the defending champions. There were no teams promoted from the previous season of ...

and

2010 Armenian Premier League The 2010 Armenian Premier League season was the nineteenth since its establishment. The season began in March 2010 and ended in November 2010. FC Pyunik were the defending champions, having won their twelfth championship last season. Participating ...

, won the 2009 Armenian Cup and

2010 Armenian Cup The 2010 Armenian Cup was the 19th season of Armenian knockout football competition. It featured only the 8 Premier League teams. The tournament started on 23 March 2010. Pyunik won their second consecutive cup with a 4–0 victory over Banants ...

and won the 2010 Armenian Supercup. In the 10th round of the 2010 Armenian Premier League, Marcos had his 100th match in the Premier League in the history of his performance. That season, Pizzelli became the top goalscorer for a third time along with Armenian

Gevorg Ghazaryan Gevorg Ghazaryan (; born 5 April 1988) is an Armenian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. Ghazaryan has participated in 73 international matches, scoring 14 goals since his debut on 14 January 2007 ...

, with both scoring 16 goals. In the middle of the

2011 Armenian Premier League The 2011 Armenian Premier League Association football, football season was the twentieth since its establishment. The season began in March 2011 and ended in November 2011. FC Pyunik were the defending champions, having won their thirteenth champ ...

, Pizzelli scored six goals, but was then transferred to

Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk (, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football came to the Donetsk region in the time of the Russian Empire when the industr ...

Metalurh Donetsk

In June 2011, Pizzelli signed a contract with

, along with Pyunik teammate Gevorg Ghazaryan. In his first official match for the Donetsk club, Pizzelli scored a goal, and this goal, scored against

Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa, Ukraine. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 as ''Dynamo'', but until 2002 it carried a logo with 1958 and 1959Kuban Krasnodar. In 2011, in a match between Russia and Armenia, the head coach of Team Kuban Dan Petrescu spotted Pizzelli and was interested in the player. After a long observation of the game of Pizzelli, Petrescu agreed to acquire the player. On 13 January, they signed a contract for three years. On 18 March, Pizzelli scored the first goal in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

and brought Kuban the win over

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

. Pizzelli was voted player of the month for Kuban a second time in May 2012.

Krasnodar

In May 2013, Pizzelli agreed to join Kuban Krasnodar's rivals

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. They are the league's reigning champions. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Divis ...

on a two-year contract starting on 10 June 2013. After six months with Krasnodar, Pizzelli joined

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

side

Aktobe Aktobe (, ; ) is a major city located on the Ilek River in western Kazakhstan. It serves as the administrative center of the Aktobe Region and is an important cultural, economic, and industrial hub in the region. As of 2023, the city has a popu ...

on a season-long loan in January 2014.

Aktobe

In October 2014, Pizzelli made his loan move from

permanent. Following the conclusion of the 2015 season, Pizzelli was transfer listed by Aktobe.

Al-Raed

On 18 January 2016, Pizzelli moved to Saudi club Al-Raed.

Al-Fujairah

On 27 June 2016, Pizzelli was transferred to Al-Fujairah of the

UAE Arabian Gulf League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

Aktobe return

On 13 February 2018,

FC Aktobe Football Club Aktobe (), commonly referred to as FC Aktobe or simply Aktobe, is a professional association football, football club based in Aktobe. They last played in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Football in Kazakhstan, Ka ...

announced the return of Pizzelli to the team. He was awarded the Kazakh Premier League top goal scorer after scoring 18 goals in 24 games.

Ararat-Armenia

On 31 December 2019,

FC Ararat-Armenia FC Ararat-Armenia () is an Armenian professional football club based in Yerevan, founded in 2017. History It was founded in 2017 as FC Avan Academy by Ruben Hayrapetyan, on the basis of the young players of the Yerevan Football Academy gradua ...

announced the signing of Pizzelli, however on 11 January, Ararat-Armenia and Pizzelli announced that he was retiring from football due to injury.

International career

In May 2008, Pizzelli received Armenian citizenship and became a member of the Armenia national team. He made his first appearance on 28 May 2008 and scored on his debut in a friendly away game against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. The match ended with the score 2–2. After playing three games that year, he was briefly no longer invited to the national team. After moving to Yerevan to play for Pyunik, he again came to the attention of coaches and 12 August 2009 Marcos again played for the Armenia national team regularly. On 8 October 2010, in a match against Slovakia, he made a scoring pass to

Yura Movsisyan Yura Movsisyan (; born August 2, 1987) is an Armenian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. Most notably, Movsisyan played for FC Spartak Moscow, Spartak Moscow in the Russi ...

, and a few days later, he scored Armenia's fourth goal in a game against Andorra. That victory then went on to secure Armenia's by that time highest ever

FIFA World Ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...

as 42nd. For his second goal for the national squad, Pizzelli scored in an away match with Russia (3–1 loss). His third goal for the team scored in am away match against Andorra in which Armenia won 3–0. His fourth goal for the national team scored in the match against Macedonia, in which Armenia won 4–1. In a friendly game, which was held 29 February 2012 against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, marked the first time in his double gate rivals. On 11 September 2012, Pizzelli was controversially

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualifier against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. On 11 October 2014, Pizzelli had a penalty saved by

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

goalkeeper

Vladimir Stojković Vladimir Stojković (, ; born 28 July 1983) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. During his career he played for the two biggest clubs in his country, Red Star and Partizan, but also represented teams in nine other c ...

in a

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

match, after which

Zoran Tošić Zoran Tošić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Тошић, ; born 28 April 1987) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a winger. He built a reputation as a free-kick specialist and a tricky dribbler. Tošić began his career with his l ...

scored a late equaliser to give Serbia a 1–1 draw.

Personal life

Pizzelli is married to his wife Natalia. They met in Brazil and she moved with him to Armenia. He and Natalia do not have children. Pizzelli speaks Portuguese,

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

, English and was learning

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. He identifies as Brazilian-Armenian. Pizzelli says he feels more Armenian than Brazilian. He said he would never forget about Armenia, which gave him an opportunity to develop his skills. "I am grateful to this country for everything. I would play for Armenia as long as the squad needs me."

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Armenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pizzelli goal.''

Honours

Ararat Yerevan *

Armenian Cup The Armenian Cup () is the main football cup competition of Armenia. In its original form as the Armenian Cup, it started in 1939, when Armenia was a republic of the Soviet Union. It served as a qualification tournament for the Soviet Cup, and it ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Pyunik Yerevan *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

*Armenian Cup:

Aktobe * Kazakhstan Super Cup:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual *Armenian Premier League top scorer:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

(22),

(17),

(16) *

Armenian Footballer of the Year Armenian Footballer of the Year is an annual award given to the best professional Armenians, Armenian Association football, football player. The winner is elected by Football Federation of Armenia members, referees, inspectors, coaches, captains an ...

: 2018 *

Top Scorer:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

Profile at FFA website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzelli, Marcos 1984 births Living people Footballers from Piracicaba Men's association football forwards Brazilian emigrants to Armenia Brazilian men's footballers Armenian men's footballers Armenian expatriate men's footballers Armenia men's international footballers FC Ararat Yerevan players ASA Issy players FC Pyunik players FC Metalurh Donetsk players FC Kuban Krasnodar players FC Krasnodar players FC Aktobe players Al Raed FC players Fujairah FC players Al Shabab FC (Riyadh) players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Armenian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Ukrainian Premier League players Armenian Premier League players Russian Premier League players Kazakhstan Premier League players Naturalized citizens of Armenia Naturalised association football players Armenian people of Brazilian descent Saudi Pro League players UAE First Division League players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen