Vágner Silva de Souza (born 11 June 1984), known as Vágner Love, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. His nickname name "Love" was given to Vágner while at his first club Palmeiras as he was known for his playboy lifestyle.
He began his career at Palmeiras, making his debut in 2002. He joined Russian club CSKA Moscow in 2004, spending seven years there, as well as another short spell in 2013. Over two spells, Vágner Love scored 124 goals across 256 official games in eight seasons at the club. He won 15 honours, including four league titles and six domestic cups, as well as the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, where he scored in the final to become the youngest player to score in a UEFA Cup final. He represented thirteen other clubs, including Flamengo, Corinthians, Monaco, Beşiktaş, and Alanyaspor. He retired from professional football in 2026 at the age of 41. He scored 403 goals in 892 competitive matches at club level.
Vágner Love played for the Brazil national team between 2004 and 2007, scoring four goals in 20 games, and was part of the squads that won the Copa América in 2004 and 2007.
Vágner Love started his career with Palmeiras. In the 2003 season, he helped them to return to the Série A, the nation's top-flight division, by scoring 19 goals and finishing as Serie B's top scorer.
In August 2004, Vágner Love transferred to the Russian Premier League club CSKA Moscow, where he joined fellow Brazilian attacking midfielder Daniel Carvalho, who had arrived before the start of season. Upon his arrival, Vagner Love had an immediate impact on the team's performance; on 4 August 2004, his debut game for CSKA Moscow against Neftchi, he came on as a substitute and scored a goal. In the last qualifying round against Glasgow Rangers, Vagner Love scored goals in both legs as CSKA won 3-2 on aggregate and qualified to the Champions League group stage. He also scored 9 goals in the remaining 12 league games, including braces against Rotor Volgograd (3-0), Alania Vladikavkaz (1-4) and FC Moscow (1-4) as the team finished second in a close title race against cross-city rivals Lokomotiv, losing by just one point. He also played in every Champions League group stage game and scored one goal against PSG. In December 2004, CSKA finished third in the group and was relegated to the UEFA Cup knockout stage, where he scored three goals.
At the end of the football season in Russia, Vagner Love was linked with a move to Corinthians due to homesickness and having trouble adjusting to life in Moscow. However, CSKA refused to sell or loan him.
On 18 May 2005, at the age of 20 years, 341 days, Vágner Love scored the final goal in CSKA's 3–1 victory over Sporting CP in the 2005 UEFA Cup Final at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, making him the youngest player to score in a UEFA Cup final.
He won his second trophy with the Russian club later that month, as CSKA won the 2004–05 Russian Cup. Later that year, the Brazilian striker scored seven times to help his club win the 2005 Russian Premier League title. On 24 November, he scored twice in a 2-1 victory against Levski Sofia, but CSKA were later eliminated from the UEFA Cup group stages.
On 11 March 2006, Vagner participated in the match as CSKA beat crosstown rival Spartak to win the 2006 Russian Super Cup. CSKA's second trophy of 2006 was the Russian Cup, with Vagner scoring in the 3-0 victory against Spartak. CSKA won back-to-back league titles with their 2006 league title, with Vagner scoring nine goals, including a hattrick on 18 November 2006 against Luch-Energia. Despite winning three trophies, Vagner did not score in the Champions League group stage, as CSKA finished third and dropped to the UEFA Cup. He finished the 2006 season with 15 goals in 38 appearances, improving on his previous season total while playing less matches.
Vagner scored and won back-to-back Russian Super Cup titles as CSKA beat Spartak 4-2 to start the 2007 season. Vagner was the club's top scorer in the league, scoring 13 goals as CSKA finished third in the 2007 league season. Despite Vagner's good performances, CSKA had a poor season, being knocked out from the Russian Cup in the sixth round and from the UEFA Cup in the round of 32, also finishing last in their Champions League group, with Vagner scoring three goals in the group stage.
He won his third Russian Cup at the beginning of 2008, scoring during the match and also in the penalty shootout in the final against Amkar Perm.
He was the top scorer in the 2008 season (the first top scorer from outside the former Soviet Union), scoring 20 goals, including hat tricks against Spartak (5-1) and Rubin Kazan (4-0), as well as four goals against FC Moscow (4-1). He was also the top scorer of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, with 11 goals in 8 games, including a hat-trick in a 4-3 away victory against AS Nancy, despite CSKA's elimination from the competition at the round of 16 stage, losing 2-1 on aggregate at the hands of eventual champion Shakhtar Donetsk.
On 31 May 2009, he won his fourth Russian Cup with the club. In the semi-finals, he scored an important goal and then his penalty in the shootout against Dynamo Moscow to help CSKA progress to the finals. He played in the final against Rubin Kazan as his club won 1-0 with a last minute goal from Evgeni Aldonin.
On 28 August 2009, Vágner Love was signed by his former club Palmeiras on a one-year loan deal until 31 July 2010. CSKA press spokesman Sergei Aksenov claimed that Vágner Love left Russia due to "urgent family problems demand(ing) his presence at home in Brazil".
Vágner Love had a respectable return of 5 goals in 12 games for Palmeiras, but his loan spell was ended prematurely after suffering an attack by Palmeiras fans outside a bank in São Paulo on 1 December 2009, just days after scoring in the 37th round of the Brazilian championship, a 3-1 victory against Atletico-MG. This incident, combined with his desire to play for his childhood team Flamengo, led to his spell at the club being ended early on 14 January 2010, with the player stating the primary reason for the move being that he felt unsafe in São Paulo.
On 15 January 2010, the day after his loan was terminated with Palmeiras, Vágner Love officially signed a short-loan deal with reigning Brazilian champions Flamengo until July 2010. He made his Flamengo debut against Bangu in the Campeonato Carioca on 23 January 2010, scoring two goals.
Vágner Love performed very well playing for Flamengo, scoring 23 goals in 26 matches. His successful strike partnership with Adriano was dubbed by fans as "Império do Amor", or "The Love Empire", in reference to Adriano's nickname "The Emperor" and Vágner Love's artistic surname. The presence of midfielder Dejan Petković in Flamengo's squad made supporters start the year with high expectations—it was widely believed that the Serbian's passing and free-kick abilities, coupled with Adriano's and Vagner's prolific scoring, would produce a top team. However, the team failed to advance past the quarter-finals in the 2010 Copa Libertadores, and finished in the bottom half of the table in the Série A. Shortly after, Adriano revealed he wanted to try playing in Italy again, and Flamengo could not convince CSKA to extend Vágner Love's loan, thus dismantling the once-promising "Love Empire".
In July 2010, Vagner returned to CSKA. He scored two goals in the Europa League group stages, but was unable to make an impact in the later rounds, playing both legs as CSKA lost to FC Porto 3-1 on aggregate. On 11 May 2011, in the Russian Cup semi-finals, Vagner Love scored a goal to tie the match at 3-3 against rivals Spartak, and then scored in the penalty shootout to help his club qualify for the final. In the final less than two weeks later, he won his fifth Russian Cup with the club, playing in the 2-1 victory over Alania Vladikavkaz.