José Leonardo Ribeiro da Silva (born February 8, 1988), commonly known as Leonardo, is a Brazilian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who is currently a free agent and plays as a defender.

Career

Leonardo was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

and played for the São Paulo youth teams before being promoted into the senior team. He was sent out on loan to Major League Soccer team

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

in 2010 along with fellow Brazilians from the club Alex Cazumba and Juninho. He made his debut for the team on March 27, 2010, in Galaxy's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

. Leonardo would deal with injuries in 2010, but made 10 appearances and helped the Galaxy win the 2010

Supporters Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

. He scored his first professional goal on April 2, 2011, a headed goal from a David Beckham cross, in a 1–0 win over Philadelphia Union. However he would suffer a torn ACL and a torn LCL on April 17, 2011, forcing him to miss the rest of the 2011 season. On February 7, 2012, Los Angeles announced it had acquired the full rights to Leonardo on a free transfer from São Paulo. Leonardo would miss most of the 2012 season due to injuries, making 0 league appearances and only appearing in 1

US Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. Op ...

match. Leonardo would recover from his injuries for the 2013 season and established himself as a starter for the 2014 season as part of a backline that allowed a league low 35 goals. He would start in 3 of the Galaxy's playoff games, including the final as LA won their 5th

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

. Leonardo enjoyed a good season for 2015, making 29 appearances across all competitions and being named the Galaxy defender of the year. However the team lost 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs to Sporting Kansas City. Leonardo missed some time for a leg injury and also fell out of favor in 2016, only making 7 appearances in all competitions. On December 22, 2016 Leonardo was selected by the Houston Dynamo in stage 2 of the 2016 Re-Entry Draft. He signed with the Dynamo on January 5, 2017. Leonardo made his Dynamo debut on March 4, 2017 in a 3-2 win over the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

. He scored his first goal for the Dynamo on May 31 against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...

. He made 30 league appearances on the year and helped the Dynamo qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2013. He would make 3 appearances in the playoffs as the Dynamo reached the Western Conference Finals, where they would fall to Seattle. In 2018, Leonardo helped the Dynamo win the 2018 US Open Cup, the first in club history, however he missed the final due to injury. Overall he enjoyed a healthy season, only missing 4 games. Leonardo also emerged as a leader of the team, wearing the captain's armband on 4 occasions. On March 12, 2019, he joined

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

side

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games ...

Career Statistics

Honors

;Los Angeles Galaxy *

(3): 2011,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

* Supporters' Shield (2): 2010, 2011 * Major League Soccer Western Conference Championship (2): 2011,

Houston Dynamo *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonardo 1988 births Living people Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Brazilian footballers São Paulo FC players LA Galaxy players LA Galaxy II players Houston Dynamo FC players Orange County SC players Association football defenders Expatriate soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Footballers from São Paulo