Julia Bianchi (born 7 October 1997) is a Brazilian professional

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 le ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL) and the Brazil women's national team.

Career

Club

Bianchi was born

Xanxerê (''The state capital of corn'') , motto = , image_skyline = File:Igreja Central.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = City's central church , image_flag = Bandeira xanxere.png , image_seal ...

, a small town in Santa Catarina in the southern Brazil. She started her professional career at Kindermann, a traditional women's football club based in

Caçador Caçador () is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. History The banks of the Rio do Peixe (Fish River) were inhabited by ethnic native groups of Kaingangs and Xoklengs until 1881, when families of ...

, Santa Catarina. Then, she went to play for Centro Olímpico and then signed with Ferroviária. In 2017, Bianchi returned to Kindermann and, in the following year, she was loaned to

Madrid CFF Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino (; ''Madrid Women's Football Club'') is a Spanish women's football club based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Community of Madrid, that currently plays in Liga F. History Madrid CFF was founded in 2010 by Alfred ...

in the Primera División. Back with Kindermann, she was chosen one of the best players in the 2020 season of the Campeonato Brasileiro. As a result, in the following year, she signed with

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

. She signed with

in January 2023.

International

Bianchi was called to represent the Brazil U17 at the

2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the third edition of the women's football tournament, and was held in Azerbaijan from 22 September to 13 October, following a decision by the executive committee on 19 March 2010. Defending champions Sou ...

, where she featured, as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, in all the four matches Brazil played in the tournament. At the time, she was only 14 years old. Bianchi also represented Brazil U20 in two

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...

s, in

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 ...

and in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. On both occasions, she featured in all the matches her team played in these tournaments, playing as a defensive midfielder, as a right-back, and as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. On 9 November, after having a great season in 2020 where Bianchi was chosen one of the best midfielders in the Campeonato Brasileiro, Bianchi was called to represent Brazil in two friendly matches against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Later, Argentina quit the matches with

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

taking its place. On 1 December, she debuted for Brazil coming in the half-time of the 8–0 win over Ecuador. On 28 January 2021, Bianchi was called by

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as ...

to represent Brazil at the

2021 SheBelieves Cup The 2021 SheBelieves Cup was the sixth edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational women's soccer tournament held in the United States. Featuring national teams from Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and hosts United States, it began on February 18 ...

. She featured in all three matches played by her team in the tournament. Later in the same year, Bianchi was called and played in other two friendly matches for Brazil. On 11 June against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and on 14 June against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. On 18 June 2021, Bianchi was included, by Sundhage, in the squad who represented Brazil at

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

International goals

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bianchi, Julia 1997 births Living people Brazilian women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Brazil women's international footballers Madrid CFF players Liga F players Associação Desportiva Centro Olímpico players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (women) players Sociedade Esportiva Kindermann players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Brazil Chicago Red Stars players Footballers from Santa Catarina (state) National Women's Soccer League players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States