Mário Figueira Fernandes (Russian: Марио Фигейра Фернандес, pronounced [ˈmarʲɪo fʲɪˈɡʲejrə fʲɪrˈnandɨs]; born 19 September 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back.

[14] In 2011, Fernandes was called to the Brazil squad for the Superclásico de las Américas, which he rejected, citing personal issues.

[15] After acquiring Russian citizenship, he was called up to the Russia national football team for the friendly games in 2016, against Turkey on 31 August and Ghana on 6 September.

Right after signing his first professional contract with Grêmio, Fernandes found it hard to adjust to a new home and fell into depression, prompting him to disappear to his uncle.

In a later interview he refused to disclose why he made no attempt to contact the club during this time, but pointed out the difficulties of settling at the beginning of a career, citing the example of Jesús Navas.

[4] He underwent psychotherapy to deal with his depression, which helped his performances, but still drank heavily, regularly went out clubbing, and neglected his diet and fitness, saying "I would drink so much that I would sometimes show up drunk to training".

During this time he lived alone, and in an interview admitted to "eating pizza and McDonald's every day", which led to action on the part of the Gremio dietitian.

[29] Fernandes had spoken with CSKA CEO Roman Babaev about the possibility of receiving Russian citizenship in 2015, before he had been called up to the Brazil squad.

His talks about receiving Russian citizenship resumed in the autumn of the same year, at which point he had decided and had the full support of his family to do so.

[30] On 13 July 2016, he received Russian citizenship via presidential decree from Vladimir Putin, which according to him made him more determined to start for Russia in the World Cup.