Leonardo José Aparecido Moura (born 9 March 1986), simply known as Leonardo, is a Brazilian retired

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 played as a

central defender 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 ...

Club career

Leonardo was born in Guarulhos,

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 GaWC a ...

, and joined Santos' youth setup in 1998, aged 12. He was promoted to the main squad in 2004, and made his first team – and Série A – debut on 16 October, starting in a 4–0 home win against Ponte Preta. On 22 July 2005 Leonardo signed a five-year contract with

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

, for a $1.8 million fee. Despite being regularly used, mainly in the 2006–07 campaign, he was shown the door by the club due to the new rules of the league. Leonardo was loaned to Santos in February 2007, but after struggling with fitness, moved to São Caetano in March 2008 also in a temporary deal. He was more utilized during his spell at the latter, On 9 February 2009 Leonardo was again loaned, this time to Vasco da Gama. On 18 June, after appearing rarely with the side, he returned to Shakhtar, being used only as a backup during the season. Leonardo was subsequently loaned to Grêmio Prudente,

Avaí Avaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 milli ...

and

Atlético Goianiense Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

, signing permanently with the latter in 2012. On 18 June 2013 Leonardo joined

Criciúma Criciúma is a city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. At , it is located 180 km south of Florianópolis, the state capital and around 900 km south of São Paulo. The city is the center of Brazil's flooring and home materials in ...

, He subsequently represented Ponte Preta,

Bragantino Red Bull Bragantino, commonly known as Bragantino, is a Brazilian football club based in Bragança Paulista, São Paulo. It competes in the Série A, the top tier of the Brazilian football league system, as well as in the Campeonato Paulista ...

and Ituano, all in his native state. On 15 May 2015 Leonardo returned to Santos, signing until the end of 2016. On 6 January of the following year, after being rarely used, he rescinded his link, and joined

Mersin İdmanyurdu Mersin Talim Yurdu, formerly Mersin İdman Yurdu, is a Turkish sports club from Mersin, Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean Region. The team played in the Turkish first division for 15 seasons, and after the 1983–84 season the football team pla ...

a day later. After only one league game in the 2018/19 season, Leonardos contract was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

After representing

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the under-17 and under-20 levels, Leonardo was called up to the main squad by manager

Carlos Alberto Parreira Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira (born 27 February 1943) is a Brazilian former football manager who holds the record for attending the most FIFA World Cup final tournaments as manager with six appearances. He also managed five different national te ...

on 18 April 2005, for a friendly against

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. However, he did not play the match.

Career statistics

Leonardo First team
Shakhtar's official website. Retrieved on 14 May 2015

Honours

Club

;Santos *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

: 2004 *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

: 2007 ;Shakhtar Donetsk *

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League' ...

: 2005–06 ;Atlético Goianiense *

Campeonato Goiano The Campeonato Goiano is the football league of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Format First Division First stage *Teams are divided in two groups of six teams. *Double round-robin, in which all teams home-and-away games against the team fr ...

: 2011, 2013

International

;Brazil U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

: 2003

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonardo 1986 births Living people People from Guarulhos Brazilian footballers Association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Santos FC players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players CR Vasco da Gama players Grêmio Barueri Futebol players Avaí FC players Atlético Clube Goianiense players Criciúma Esporte Clube players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Clube Atlético Bragantino players Ituano FC players Santa Cruz Futebol Clube players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players Mersin İdman Yurdu footballers Brazil youth international footballers Brazil under-20 international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Footballers from São Paulo (state)