Wendel (footballer, born 1997)

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Valleand the second or paternal family name is Silva.

Marcus Wendel

Wendel with Zenit in 2021
Personal information
Full name	Marcus Wendel Valle da Silva
Date of birth	(1997-08-28) 28 August 1997 (age 28)
Place of birth	Duque de Caxias, Brazil
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) [1]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Zenit Saint Petersburg
Number	8
Youth career
	Tigres do Brasil
2016–2017	Fluminense
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2017–2018	Fluminense	42	(6)
2018–2020	Sporting CP	54	(4)
2020–	Zenit Saint Petersburg	119	(18)
International career‡
2019–2020	Brazil U23	12	(1)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 30 August 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 2 July 2021

Marcus Wendel Valle da Silva (born 28 September 1997), commonly known as Wendel, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg. He plays as a central midfielder, an attacking midfielder or a left midfielder.

Club career

Fluminense

He started his career at Tigres do Brasil's youth team, and then in 2015, he moved to Fluminense. He made his debut in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A on 14 May 2017, in a match against Santos. He scored his first goal in the league on 18 June 2017, in a match against Flamengo. In the 2017 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A season, Wendel played 33 matches and scored 5 goals.

Sporting CP

He signed a contract with Sporting Clube de Portugal in January 2018, valid until 2023, with a termination clause, with Fluminense receiving 10% of the money.^{[ citation needed ]} Wendel initially had difficulty adapting to the tempo and tactics of European football which led to low playing time during the early campaign. However, after the appointment of Marcel Keizer as manager of the club, Wendel became a usual starter. In the beginning of December, Wendel suffered a left knee sprain which sidelined him for 2 months.^{[ citation needed ]}

Zenit Saint Petersburg

On 6 October 2020, Wendel joined Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg on a five-year contract. ^[2] On 21 July 2022, Wendel extended his contract with Zenit until 2027. ^[3] On 11 September 2022, Wendel scored the first hat-trick of his career in a 8–0 victory against FC Orenburg. ^[4] In August 2024, he extended his contract with Zenit to June 2028. ^[5]

On 20 January 2025, Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg announced the transfer of Luiz Henrique to Zenit, with Artur moving in the opposite direction, following by Wendel also moving to Botafogo at the end of the 2024–25 Russian season in June 2025. ^[6]

However, the transfer was voided after the US Government imposed new economic sanctions over the Russian club's owners, as informed by Botafogo via press release on 21 May 2025. ^[7]

Career statistics

As of match played 30 August 2025 ^{[8] [9]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [a]		League cup [b]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Fluminense	2017	Série A	33	5	5	0	—		8	1	9 [c]	1	55	7
Sporting	2017–18	Primeira Liga	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		4	0
	2018–19	Primeira Liga	21	1	5	1	4	1	3	0	—		33	3
	2019–20	Primeira Liga	28	3	0	0	4	0	6	0	1 [d]	0	39	3
	2020–21	Primeira Liga	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	—		3	0
	Total		54	4	5	1	8	1	11	0	1	0	79	6
Zenit	2020–21	Russian Premier League	15	2	1	0	—		4	0	—		20	2
	2021–22	Russian Premier League	25	3	1	0	—		8	1	1 [e]	0	35	4
	2022–23	Russian Premier League	24	8	6	0	—		—		1 [e]	1	31	9
	2023–24	Russian Premier League	28	4	8	0	—		—		0	0	36	4
	2024–25	Russian Premier League	22	1	4	0	—		—		1 [e]	1	27	2
	2025–26	Russian Premier League	5	0	1	0	—		—		—		6	0
	Total		119	18	21	0	—		12	1	3	2	155	21
Career total			206	27	31	1	8	1	31	2	13	3	289	34

1. Includes Copa do Brasil, Taça de Portugal, Russian Cup
2. Includes Taça da Liga
3. Appearances in Campeonato Carioca
4. Appearance in Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
5. Appearance in Russian Super Cup

Honours

Sporting

• Primeira Liga: 2020–21
• Taça de Portugal: 2018–19 ^[10]
• Taça da Liga: 2018–19 ^[11]

Zenit Saint Petersburg

• Russian Premier League: 2020–21, ^[12] 2021–22, ^[13] 2022–23, ^[14] 2023–24 ^[15]
• Russian Cup: 2023–24 ^[16]
• Russian Super Cup: 2021, ^[17] 2022, ^[18] 2024 ^[19]

Individual

• Russian Premier League Team of the Season: 2022–23 ^[20]

References

1. Wendel at WorldFootball.net
2. "Wendel is a Zenit player!". FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
3. "Вендел: "Я всё время думал только о "Зените" и только в нем хотел играть"" (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
4. "Zenit v Orenburg game report". Russian Premier League. 11 September 2022.
5. "«Зенит» подписал новые контракты с Венделом и Клаудиньо до 2028 года с опцией продления еще на сезон" (in Russian). Sports.ru. 23 August 2024.
6. "«Зенит» и «Ботафого» достигли соглашения о переходе игроков" [Zenit and Botafogo agreed on player transfers] (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 20 January 2024.
7. "Nota Oficial - Wendel". 9 August 2023.
8. Wendel at Soccerway
9. Wendel's statistics
10. Nogueira, Carlos (26 May 2019). "Leão rei dos penáltis leva para casa o segundo troféu da época" [Penalty-king lion takes home second trophy of the season]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Lisbon. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
11. "Penalties smile on Sporting again as Lions retain Taça da Liga crown". PortuGOAL.net. 26 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
12. "Sensational Zenit storm to the title with utterly dominant thrashing". Russian Premier League. 2 May 2021.
13. ""Зенит" – восьмикратный чемпион Тинькофф РПЛ!" [Zenit is the eight-times winner of Tinkoff RPL] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 30 April 2022.
14. ""Зенит" обеспечил 5-е чемпионство подряд благодаря победе над "Спартаком"" [Zenit secured 5th title in a row thanks to a win over Spartak]. Russian Premier League. 7 May 2023.
15. ""Зенит" завоевал золотые медали Мир РПЛ в шестом сезоне подряд!" [Zenit won the gold medals of MIR RPL for the sixth season in a row!] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 25 May 2024.
16. "Суперфинал FONBET Кубка России LIVE. Гол Алипа приносит "Зениту" победу" [Russian Cup Superfinal: Alip goal gives Zenit the victory] (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 2 June 2024.
17. "Zenit canter to second consecutive Super Cup win over error-strewn Lokomotiv". Russian Premier League. 17 July 2021.
18. ""Зенит" обыграл "Спартак" в Петербурге и завоевал третий OLIMPBET Суперкубок подряд" (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 9 July 2022.
19. ""Зенит" – обладатель OLIMPBET Суперкубка России-2024" [Zenit is the winner of OLIMPBET Russian Super Cup 2024] (in Russian). Russian Football Union. 13 July 2024.
20. "Все лауреаты первой ежегодной премии Winline Герои РПЛ" [All winners of the first Winline Heroes of the RPL award] (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 4 June 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2023.