Ai Kesen
Personal information
Full name Ai Kesen
Birth name Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso[1]
Date of birth (1989-07-13) 13 July 1989 (age 34)
Place of birth Coelho Neto, Maranhão, Brazil
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Chengdu Rongcheng
Number 9
Youth career
2001–2009 Vitória
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2011 Vitória 47 (7)
2011–2012 Botafogo 65 (19)
2013–2015 Guangzhou Evergrande 72 (59)
2016–2019 Shanghai SIPG 74 (37)
2019–2021 Guangzhou Evergrande 45 (27)
2022 Grêmio 23 (3)
2023– Chengdu Rongcheng 27 (8)
International career‡
2019– China 18 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16 November 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 October 2023

Ai Kesen (Chinese: 艾克森; pinyin: Ài Kèsēn; born 13 July 1989), born Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso and known as Elkeson, is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Chinese Super League club Chengdu Rongcheng. Born in Brazil, he plays for the China national team.

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. Born in Brazil, Elkeson obtained Chinese citizenship in 2019 through naturalization and represents China internationally.[2]

Club career

Brazil

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.

Guangzhou Evergrande

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.[3][4] 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 the 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.[5] 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.[6]

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 across both legs of the 2013 AFC Champions League Final against FC Seoul as Guangzhou was crowned champion of the competition for the first time.[7] The win in the final was the first time a Chinese club had won the trophy in 23 years.[8]

On 1 December 2013, in the first leg of the 2013 Chinese FA Cup final against Guizhou Renhe, he was sent off after striking Yang Hao in the face with his hand.[9] On 5 December, he received a ban of 4 matches and was fined ¥20,000 by the Chinese Football Association discipline committee.[10]

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.[11]

In March 2015, after a match against Changchun Yatai, he was heavily criticised for annulling teammate 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.[12]

Elkeson scored the winner as Guangzhou beat Al-Ahli of the UAE to win a second AFC Champions League in three years on 21 November 2015.[8]

Shanghai SIPG

On 21 January 2016, Elkeson moved to fellow Super League side Shanghai SIPG with a fee of ¥132 million (€18.5 million).[13]

On 4 April 2018, Elkeson scored his side's only goal in their 1–1 draw with Kawasaki Frontale in the group stage of the AFC Champions League.[14] The goal was Elkeson's 27th in the competition proper, moving him to fourth all time in the top scoring charts.[15]

On 18 September 2018, Elkeson scored the winning goal for Shanghai SIPG, as the club recorded its first ever win in the Super League against his former club Guangzhou Evergrande. The win cemented SIPG's position in first place at the top of the league table.[16] On 7 October, Elkeson scored again as SIPG recorded a 5–0 win over bottom-of-the-table Guizhou Hengfeng to extend their lead over his former club at the top of the table to 4 points with just over a month of the season left.[17] On 7 November, Elkeson played a part in Shanghai's 2–0 win over Beijing Renhe in the penultimate round of fixtures.[18] The win secured Shanghai SIPG's first Chinese Super League title and ended Guangzhou Evergrande's seven-year title reign.[19]

Return to Guangzhou Evergrande

On 9 July 2019, Elkeson returned to his former club Guangzhou Evergrande.[20] Elkeson reportedly agreed a €10 million (US$11.2 million) annual salary to return, up from €6 million in Shanghai.[20] At the time of his transfer, the two clubs were level on points, and were two points behind leaders Beijing Guoan. Elkeson marked his return to Guangzhou with goals in his first two games, and a hat-trick against local rivals Guangzhou R&F in his third match on 20 July.[21]

On 13 December 2021, Elkeson confirmed his departure from Guangzhou FC, having terminated his contract with the club by mutual consent.[22]

Return to Brazil

On 12 April 2022, Elkeson officially joined Série B side Grêmio, signing a contract until the end of the year and returning to Brazil after ten years abroad.[23][24] Having scored four goals in 23 matches, he helped O Tricolor gain automatic promotion back to the Brazilian top tier at the end of the 2022 season.[25] On 9 November, he announced his official departure from the club.[26]

Chengdu Rongcheng

On 7 April 2023, Elkeson returned to China and signed with Chinese Super League side Chengdu Rongcheng.[27] On 21 April 2023, he scored his first goal for Rongcheng in a 2-1 home win against Cangzhou Mighty Lions.[28]

International career

Elkeson during his first training for the national team as a Chinese player

In September 2011, Elkeson received his first call up for the Brazil national football team by Mano Menezes for the second leg of the 2011 Superclásico de las Américas against Argentina.[29] However, he did not make an appearance once.

Elkeson was called up to the Chinese national team in August 2019, following the gaining of Chinese citizenship via naturalisation. Elkeson subsequently became the first player to be called up for China without any Chinese ancestry.[30]

Following his naturalisation as a Chinese citizen, his name was rendered as Ai Kesen in Chinese (Chinese: 艾克森; pinyin: Ài Kèsēn).[31] Prior to that, he used the Chinese transliterated name Ai Er'kesen (Chinese: 埃尔克森); in Cantonese speaking areas such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong, he was known as Ngai Git-san (Chinese: 艾傑臣).[citation needed]

On 10 September 2019, Elkeson made his international debut and scored his first 2 goals for China in a 5-0 away win against Maldives in the opening game of the second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification.[32]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 16 November 2023[33]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup State League Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Vitória 2009 Série A 12 1 – 1 0 1[a] 1 – 14 2
2010 34 6 10 1 13 2 2[a] 0 4[b] 0 63 9
2011 Série B 1 0 2 0 18 7 0 0 – 21 7
Total 47 7 12 1 32 9 3 1 4 0 98 18
Botafogo 2011 Série A 34 8 – – 3[a] 0 – 37 8
2012 31 11 5 2 16 5 2[a] 0 – 54 18
Total 65 19 5 2 16 5 5 0 – 91 26
Guangzhou Evergrande 2013 CSL 28 24 3 1 – 6[c] 6 4[d] 1 41 32
2014 28 28 1 0 – 10[c] 6 – 39 34
2015 16 7 – – 11[c] 3 4[e] 0 31 10
Total 72 59 4 1 – 27 15 8 1 111 76
Shanghai SIPG 2016 CSL 26 11 1 0 – 9[c] 4 0 0 36 15
2017 17 11 1 2 – 12[c] 5 0 0 30 18
2018 16 7 2 0 – 8[c] 4 0 0 26 11
2019 15 8 1 0 – 8[c] 2 1[f] 0 25 10
Total 74 37 5 2 – 37 15 1 0 117 54
Guangzhou Evergrande 2019 CSL 13 10 0 0 – 4[c] 0 0 0 17 10
2020 19 6 0 0 – 4[c] 1 – 23 7
2021 13 11 0 0 – 0[c] 0 – 13 11
Total 45 27 0 0 – 8 1 0 0 40 17
Grêmio 2022 Série B 23 3 – – – – 23 3
Total 23 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 23 3
Chengdu 2023 CSL 27 8 – – – – 27 8
Total 27 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 27 8
Career total 351 159 26 6 48 14 80 32 13 1 516 212
  1. ^ a b c d Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
  2. ^ Appearances in Copa do Nordeste
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Appearances in AFC Champions League
  4. ^ One appearance in Chinese FA Super Cup, three appearances and one goal in FIFA Club World Cup
  5. ^ One appearance in Chinese FA Super Cup, three appearances in FIFA Club World Cup
  6. ^ Appearance in Chinese FA Super Cup

International

China
Year Apps Goals
2019 4 3
2020 0 0
2021 9 1
2022 0 0
2023 5 0
Total 18 4

As of 30 May 2021. China score listed first, score column shows score after each Elkeson goal.

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 10 September 2019 National Football Stadium, Malé, Maldives 1  Maldives 4–0 5–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 5–0
3 10 October 2019 Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China 2  Guam 7–0 7–0
4 30 May 2021 Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China 5 5–0

Honours

Vitória

Botafogo

Guangzhou Evergrande

Shanghai SIPG

Grêmio

Brazil

Individual

See also

References

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  2. ^ "Landmark move sees Elkeson named in China PR squad". The AFC. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  3. ^ China champs Guangzhou sign Elkeson
  4. ^ 埃尔克森（ELKESON）正式加盟广州恒大 Archived 26 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese)
  5. ^ "Former Botafogo star Elkeson happy with life in China". Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  6. ^ "恒大火速为郑龙补报亚冠资格 埃尔克森替巴里奥斯". Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
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  8. ^ a b c d "Chinese champions Guangzhou sell top scorer to rivals 'for national glory'". The Guardian. 21 January 2016. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
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  23. ^ "Grêmio anuncia o atacante Elkeson como novo reforço". Grêmio FBPA (in Brazilian Portuguese). 12 April 2022. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  24. ^ "Grêmio oficializa contratação de Elkeson até o fim do ano". ge (in Brazilian Portuguese). 12 April 2022. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  25. ^ "Grêmio faz 3 a 0 no Náutico e confirma retorno à Série A do futebol brasileiro". Grêmio FBPA (in Brazilian Portuguese). 23 October 2022. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  26. ^ "Elkeson se despede do Grêmio: "Sentimento de gratidão e dever cumprido"". ge (in Brazilian Portuguese). 5 November 2022. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  27. ^ "官宣：现役国脚艾克森正式加盟成都蓉城俱乐部" (in Chinese). Sina Sports. 7 April 2023. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  28. ^ "成都2-1沧州拿下首胜，艾克森打入回归中超首球，金敃友破门". Dongqiudi. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  29. ^ Os convocados para o Superclássico Archived 24 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine cbf.com.br (in Portuguese)
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  31. ^ "国足公布26人集训名单:归化球员艾克森和李可入选". news.sina.com.cn (in Chinese). 中国新闻网. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
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  36. ^ John Greco (11 November 2014). "Four Wanderers in ACL Dream Team". Football Federation Australia. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
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  38. ^ "Team of the Year 2014". sports.sohu.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2016.

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