Bérgson (footballer)

Bérgson Gustavo Silveira da Silva (born 9 February 1991), simply known as Bergson, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim. He is renowned for his creative play, known for his dribbling ability, use of feints, close ball control, as well as his ability to score from distance with powerful strikes from both feet.

During his time at Athletico Paranaense, he won the 2018 Copa Sudamericana. Bergson is the current all-time top scorer for Johor Darul Ta'zim with 110 goals and became the first player to score 100 goals for the club.

Grêmio
in 2006 at the age of 16 Bérgson joined the Grêmio Youth Academy from Internacional. Here, Bérgson found great success winning the 2008 Taça Belo Horizonte de Juniores as well as two consecutive Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 in 2008 and 2009, finishing top goalscorer in the latter.

Bérgson made his professional debut at the club in 2009. Bérgson became subject of a potential match fixing scandal in the penultimate game of the 2009 Brazilian Serie A season. while 2–1 down to league leaders Flamengo, was allegedly lipread telling teammate Douglas Costa to 'No longer shoot on goal'. The game finished 2–1 allowing Flamengo to win the league over fierce Grêmio rival, Internacional. In 2010, Bérgson scored his first professional goal in a 3–2 loss to Avai in the Copa do Brasil. Bergson struggled to obtain first-team opportunities due to the competition of several proven strikers at the club at the time such as Jonas, Leandro and William.

In 2010, Bergsons form came to attention of the Brazil U20 set up being called up for two games.

Suwon Bluewings (loan)
Despite interest from Sweden and Qatari side Al Wasl, on 1 January 2011 Bergson moved to Asia to joined South Korean giants, Suwon Bluewings on loan. Despite a promising preseason consisting of 3 goals in three games, Bergson failed to get to find consistent game time as well as suffering a groin injury leaving him out of action for 40 days. Bergson scored his first and only goal for the side, opening the scoring showing off his skillful dribbling shortly after narrowly missing a scoring attempt from the halfway line in a 3–1 Korean FA Cup win against Pochean. On 30 June 2011, after only 1 league start for the side, Bergson and Suwon Bluewings mutually terminated their loan.

Vila Nova (loan)
After returning to his parent club, Bergson received loan interest from AD São Caetano and Paraná Clube. On 1 July 2011, upon the request of then manager Hélio dos Anjos to improrve the clubs attack, Serie B side Vila Nova signed Bergson on a short-term loan until the end of the season. Former Suwon Bluewings teammate Wando would also follow Bergson to Vila Nova on a permanent deal.

Ypiranga (loan)
On 1 February 2012, Bergson joined Campeonato Gaúcho side Ypiranga on loan. Bergson scored 5 minutes into his club debut in a 1–1 draw against Cerâmica. Bergson would suffer a thigh injury initially ruling him out of playing for 30 days however rushing the recovery of the injury lead to him injuring his thigh in the first game back from injury causing him to only make one league appearance for the club before hisloan finished.

Braga B (loan)
On 1 July 2012, Bergson joined the reserve team of Braga of the Portuguese side, Braga B on a short-term loan until the end of the Portuguese season. The deal included an option to buy however Braga never triggered the clause.

Juventude (loan)
Bergson returned from Europe and would eventually be sent back out on loan. On 1 January 2013, Bergson agreed to join Serie D team Juventude on loan. Bergson performed well for the side and scored 6 times in the league finally returning to consistent football with 22 league appearances.

Portuguesa (loan)
Due to a clause in Bergsons loan agreement with Juventude, he would be allowed terminate his loan if a Campeonato Brasileiro Série A team were to make an offer. After Portuguesa offered four times the wages Bergson was receiving at the time, Juventude were unable to retain his services and on 1 August 2013 he joined Portuguesa on loan. After not making an appearance in the league for over two seasons, Bergson scored his first Série A goal, a header, in a 4–2 win against Bahia.

Chapecoense (loan)
Bergson form with Portuguesa saw him continue to attract interest from top division Brazilian clubs leading him to be officially unveiled as a Chapacoense player on 1 January 2014, once again on loan. Bergson would establish himself as a first team player initially after 3 goals in 11 appearances in the 2014 Campeonato Catarinense.

Busan IPark (loan)
On 6 January 2015, Bergson joined South Korean side Busan IPark on loan. Here he would reunite with his former Suwon Bluewings coach Yoon Sung-hyo who would eventually resign from the club shortly after Bergsons departure.

Náutico (loan)
On 10 July 2015, Bergson joined Náutico on loan.

Náutico
On 28 January 2016, after a long term of loan series, Bergson finally left Grêmio and joined Náutico on a free transfer.

Paysandu
On 19 January 2017, Bergson joined Campeonato Brasileiro Série B club, Paysandu on a free transfer. On 18 November 2017, he scored his first hat-trick for the club in a league match against Santa Cruz. Bergson ends the season scoring 16 goals in 27 appearances.

Athletico Paranaense
On 1 January 2018, Bergson joined Athletico Paranaense on a free transfer. He won the 2018 Copa Sudamericana which is equivalent to the UEFA Europa League in the South America region.

Ceará
On 26 April 2019, Bergson joined Ceará on a free transfer.

Fortaleza
On 15 October 2020, Bergson joined Fortaleza on a free transfer.

Johor Darul Ta'zim (loan)
On 2 March 2021, Bergson joined Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta'zim on loan. On 13 March 2021, Bergson scored his first goal for Johor Darul Ta'zim in an away league match against UiTM in which JDT won the match 4–0.

Johor Darul Ta'zim
On 19 May 2021, after a successful spell of 11 goals, he signed with the club on a permanent deal.

On 31 July 2021, Bergson scored his first hat-trick for the club in a home league match against Perak where JDT won 5–0. On 27 August 2021, He got his 2nd hat-trick for the club in a home league match against Sri Pahang where Johor won 4–0. He went on to score 23 league goals for the club, which is also the club record in a single season.

2022 season
On 15 April 2022, he become the first JDT player to ever score an AFC Champions League hat-trick against Guangzhou in a 5–0 home victory.

On 12 October 2022, Bergson become the new JDT all-time top scorer after his double against Kedah Darul Aman took his total tally to 67 goals in all competitions for the club. The previous record was 66 goals by Gonzalo Cabrera. Bergson also broke the Malaysia Super League record for the most goals in a league season with 29 goals. On 11 November 2022, he score his 4th hat-trick for the club in a 2022 Malaysia Cup quarter-final match against Kelantan where Johor won 5–0 (8–0 aggregate) to qualified for the semi-final. He help the his club to win the quadruple with an undefeated domestic season becoming the first in the club's history.

Bergson was listed among 2022's top five goal scorers in the world. Having scored 46 goals in 36 matches in 2022, he was named alongside Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Germán Cano and Robert Lewandowski as players with the most goals in 2022. Also, Sky Sport Italy named Bergson as the goalscorer with the best goal ratio on an average of 1.27 goals per game, which no other player managed to emulate in 2022.

2023 season
Bergson started off the 2023 season scoring a goal and an assist to win the 2023 Malaysia Charity Shield. On 13 May 2023, he scored his first hat-trick of the season in a league match against Kelantan United. On 9 August 2023, Bergson scored his 2nd hat-trick of the season in a league match against Sabah at the Likas Stadium. In the second league of the 2023 Malaysia Cup quarter-finals fixtures against Negeri Sembilan on 23 September 2023, Bergson scored twice to take his goal tally to 101 goals for the club in all competitions, thus becoming the first and only player thus far to score 100 goals for JDT.

2024–25 season
On 18 May 2024, Bergson scored a brace in the club first league match of the season in a 3–1 home win over Negeri Sembilan.

International career
Bergson played with the Brazil U20 in 2010 making two appearances.

Style of play
Bergson is a critical and skillful player. Possessing excellent technique, he is also known for his ball striking from volleys, and for having a penchant for scoring from bicycle kicks, feints, long-distance strikes, and ability to both score and create goals. A prolific goalscorer, although naturally right-footed, he is capable of scoring with both feet and is an accurate free-kick and penalty taker.

Grêmio

 * Campeonato Gaúcho: 2010

Paysandu

 * Campeonato Paraense: 2017

Athletico Paranaense Ceará
 * Copa Sudamericana: 2018
 * Campeonato Paranaense: 2019
 * Copa do Nordeste: 2020

Johor Darul Ta'zim

 * Malaysia Super League: 2021, 2022, 2023
 * Malaysia FA Cup: 2022, 2023
 * Malaysia Cup: 2022, 2023
 * Malaysia Charity Shield: 2022, 2023

Individual

 * Malaysia Super League Top Scorer: 2022
 * Best Foreign Player – Malaysia National Football Awards: 2022
 * Malaysia Cup Top Scorer: 2022, 2023
 * AFC Champions League The Best XI Fans' Choice: 2022
 * IFFHS CONMEBOL Men's Best Goal Scorer: 2022
 * IFFHS All Domestic Competitions Scoring Streak: 2022
 * IFFHS 2nd Men's World Best Serial League Goal Scorer: 2022