MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. The St. Petersburg-based football club Zenit has signed a contract with Mario Fernandes, Zenit said in a statement on Monday.

Fernandes had previously left Brazil’s Internacional, a club he had joined in December 2022. Earlier in his career, the footballer had played for the Russian national team and the Moscow-based club CSKA.

Fernandes, 32, joined CSKA in 2012. As a member of the club, the defender played in 329 matches in various tournaments, scoring 11 goals and making 47 assists. When he was part of the Moscow-based team, it won the country's championship three times, won the Russian Cup once and the Super Cup twice. On May 18 of last year, the player decided put his career on pause, and on December 11, it was announced that he was returning to the game as a player for Internacional.

Fernandes received a Russian passport in 2016, and made his debut at the Russian national team a year later. In total, he played 33 matches for the Russian national team, scoring 5 goals and making 3 assists. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Fernandes took part in 5 games, scored 1 goal and made 1 assist.