Luciana Maria Dionizio (born 24 July 1987), commonly known as Luciana, 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Ferroviária and the Brazilian national team. She participated at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

Early life

Luciana was born in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

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 ...

. She began playing football as a child with her brothers, but became a goalkeeper because she did not enjoy running. She admired the calmness and serenity displayed by her football role model, male Brazilian goalkeeper

Dida In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA) is an optional information and communication technology (ICT) course, usually studied by Key Stage 4 or equivalent school students (aged 14-16). DiDA was introduc ...

Club career

In the early part of her career Luciana had spells with

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

and

Atlético Mineiro 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 Cl ...

. She played for Francana from 2007 until 2012, then joined local rivals Ferroviária ahead of the 2013 season. In April 2014, Luciana saved three

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in Ferroviária's

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

win over São José in the

2014 Copa do Brasil The 2014 Copa do Brasil (officially the 2014 Copa Sadia do Brasil for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th edition of the Copa do Brasil football competition. The competition was contested by 87 teams, either qualified through participating their re ...

final.

International career

At the

2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship The 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship was held in Russia from 17 August to 3 September 2006. It was the officially recognized world championship for women's under-20 national association football teams. Matches were held in four Moscow sta ...

, Atlético Mineiro player Luciana was part of the Brazilian squad which finished third. After appearing in the senior

squad in 2009, Luciana was not selected again until May 2013 when good form with her club led to a recall for a friendly in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. She made her senior international debut in December 2013, starting Brazil's 2–0 win over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

at the

2013 Torneio Internacional de Brasília de Futebol Feminino Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

. After getting a second chance in the national team, Luciana was keen to become the number one goalkeeper ahead of experienced rivals Bárbara and

Andréia Suntaque Andréia Suntaque (born 14 September 1977), often referred to as simply Andréia, is a female football (soccer) goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper from Brazil, who currently plays for Brazilian club Sociedade Esportiva Tiradentes. Andréi ...

. At the

, Luciana kept

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s in all three matches as Brazil qualified from their group without conceding a goal. In the second round match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Luciana took responsibility for Brazil's defeat when she spilled a shot to

Kyah Simon Kyah Pam Simon (born 25 June 1991) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Tottenham Hotspur of the FA Women's Super League. In 2011, Simon became the first Indigenous Australian player to score a goal in a FIFA ...

, who scored Australia's winning goal. Luciana remained in Canada as part of the Brazilian selection for the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

References

External links

* * * * * 1987 births Living people Brazilian women's footballers Brazil women's international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football goalkeepers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista (women) players Footballers from Belo Horizonte Associação Ferroviária de Esportes (women) players Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games {{Brazil-women-footy-bio-stub