# Matheus Cunha

Matheus Santos Carneiro de Cunha (born 27 May 1999) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Brazil national team. He has also been used as a second striker or winger.
Cunha played youth football in Brazil for Coritiba. At the age of 18, he moved to Europe to join Swiss club Sion. He then played for Bundesliga clubs RB Leipzig and Hertha BSC, before joining Atlético Madrid in August 2021. In January 2023 he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers, initially on loan.
Cunha won a gold medal with the Brazil under-23 team at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He made his senior international debut in September 2021.

## Early life

Cunha was born in the city of João Pessoa, Brazil. As a child he played futsal for a club in Recife, before switching to football.

## Club career
### Sion

Cunha played youth football for Coritiba, before joining Swiss club Sion at the age of 18 in July 2017, after impressing scouts at the Dallas Cup youth tournament. In May 2018, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 victory over Thun.

### RB Leipzig

On 24 June 2018, Cunha joined Bundesliga club RB Leipzig on a five-year deal. He scored his maiden Bundesliga goal against his future club Hertha BSC, to mark a 3–0 win in November 2018. He scored a goal against Bayer Leverkusen in April 2019 that won the Bundesliga Goal of the Month award, and was nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award. He finished the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League season with 6 goals.

### Hertha BSC

On 31 January 2020, having played 10 games mostly as a substitute and scored once for RB Leipzig in the first half of the season, Cunha moved to fellow Bundesliga team Hertha BSC on an undisclosed "long-term" contract.

### Atlético Madrid

On 25 August 2021, Cunha joined Atlético Madrid on a five-year deal for an estimated fee of €30 million. He scored his first goal against Levante to seal a 2–2 draw.

### Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 1 January 2023, Cunha joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan for the remainder of the 2022–23 season, in a deal which stipulated the move would become permanent in the summer of 2023, certain clauses in the loan agreement having been met. Cunha's first appearance was as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 draw away to Aston Villa on 4 January. His first goal for Wolves came in a 4–2 defeat at home to Leeds United on 18 March.
Cunha's first goal of the 2023–24 Premier League season came in a 3–2 defeat away to Crystal Palace on 3 September 2023. He scored his first FA Cup goal, a penalty, in extra-time of a 3–2 Third Round replay victory over Brentford at Molineux on 16 January 2024. He scored again in the next round against Wolves' bitterest rivals, West Bromwich Albion, in a 2–0 victory at The Hawthorns on 28 January, a goal that led to crowd unrest breaking out in sections of the ground designated for West Brom supporters. On 4 February, he scored his first Wolves hat-trick in a 4–2 away victory against Chelsea, becoming just the second Wolves player (after Diogo Jota in January 2019) to score a hat-trick in the Premier League and only the fourth opposition player to score a hat-trick at Stamford Bridge in Premier League history. He scored 14 goals over the season.
Cunha scored his first goal of the 2024–25 season in a 6–2 home defeat to Chelsea. Cunha also scored in defeats to Aston Villa and Brentford before he scored a late equaliser against Brighton to give wolves their 2nd point of the season.
Cunha then scored Wolves' second goal in a 2–0 win over Southampton which was the team's first win of the season. Two weeks later Cunha scored a brace in a 4–1 win over Fulham to lift the team out of the relegation zone.
On 14 December, in a 2–1 home loss to Ipswich Town in the last game before Gary O'Neil's dismissal, Cunha appeared to elbow an employee of the visiting club in the back of the head, before reaching to the same man's face and pulling his glasses off. Cunha was charged with misconduct by the Football Association. On 31 December, Cunha was given a two game ban from the FA with a fine of £80,000 following the incident. On 1 February 2025, he extended his contract with the club until 2029 shortly after he scored in Wolves' 2–0 victory over Aston Villa.

## International career
### Under-23 team

With Brazil's under-23 team, Cunha was the top scorer of the 2019 Toulon Tournament and the 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, winning the former and finishing as runner-up in the latter, thus securing qualification to the Olympics for the Brazil team with the latter performance. On 17 June 2021, he was named in Brazil's squad for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In August 2021, he won a gold medal with Brazil at the Olympics, having scored 3 goals in 5 appearances at the tournament. Overall, Cunha scored 21 goals in 24 games for the under-23 team.

### Senior team

In September 2020, Cunha was called up to the senior Brazil squad for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Bolivia and Peru on 9 and 13 October 2020, respectively.
Cunha made his debut for the senior national team on 2 September 2021, in a World Cup qualifier against Chile, a 1–0 away victory. He substituted Gabriel Barbosa in the 78th minute.

## Career statistics
### Club

    As of match played 1 March 2025
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | National cup | National cup | League cup | League cup | Continental | Continental | Other | Other | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Sion | 2017–18 | Swiss Super League | 29 | 10 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | — | — | 32 | 10 |
| RB Leipzig | 2018–19 | Bundesliga | 25 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 12 | 6 | — | — | 39 | 9 |
| RB Leipzig | 2019–20 | Bundesliga | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 0 |
| RB Leipzig | Total | Total | 35 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 14 | 6 | — | — | 52 | 9 |
| Hertha BSC | 2019–20 | Bundesliga | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 11 | 5 |
| Hertha BSC | 2020–21 | Bundesliga | 27 | 7 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 28 | 8 |
| Hertha BSC | 2021–22 | Bundesliga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| Hertha BSC | Total | Total | 39 | 12 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 40 | 13 |
| Atlético Madrid | 2021–22 | La Liga | 29 | 6 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 7 |
| Atlético Madrid | 2022–23 | La Liga | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | — | — | 17 | 0 |
| Atlético Madrid | Total | Total | 40 | 6 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 54 | 7 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) | 2022–23 | Premier League | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 20 | 2 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2023–24 | Premier League | 32 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 36 | 14 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2024–25 | Premier League | 26 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 29 | 15 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Total | Total | 75 | 27 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 85 | 31 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 218 | 57 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 263 | 70 |
* ↑ Includes Swiss Cup, DFB-Pokal, Copa del Rey, FA Cup
* ↑ Includes EFL Cup
* 1 2 Appearances in UEFA Europa League
* 1 2 3 Appearances in UEFA Champions League
* ↑ Appearance in Supercopa de España

### International

    As of match played 18 October 2023
Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Brazil | 2021 | 4 | 0 |
| Brazil | 2022 | 4 | 0 |
| Brazil | 2023 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 11 | 0 |

## Honours

Brazil U23
* Summer Olympics: 2020
* Toulon Tournament: 2019