Leonardo de Sousa Pereira (born 3 February 1995), commonly known as Léo Ceará, 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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osaka. ...

Club career

Born in

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

, Léo Ceará joined Vitória's youth setup in 2011, from São Francisco-BA. He made his first team debut on 23 January 2014, coming on as a late substitute for Alan Pinheiro in a 3–1 away win against Confiança, for the year's

Copa do Nordeste Copa do Nordeste (''Cup of the North-East''), also known as Campeonato do Nordeste (''Championship of the North-East'') or Copa Nordeste (''Northeastern Cup''), and sometimes informally referred as Lampions League – in reference to the UEFA Ch ...

. On 12 January 2016, after being rarely used, Léo Ceará was loaned to

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan. The third-tier nationwide league is a relatively recent development in Japanese football with a first attempt ...

club

FC Ryukyu are an Association football club from the Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In 2022, after spending four years in the J2 League, the club was relegated. They will play on J3 League from the 2023 season. The team derive their name from Ryukyu, the hist ...

for the season. Upon returning, he joined Campinense also in a temporary deal in February 2017, but moved to Confiança in May to play in the Série C. Léo Ceará's loan with Confiança was renewed for a further year on 27 December 2017, and he subsequently scored 16 goals in all competitions for the club before being recalled by Vitória in August 2018. Léo Ceará made his Série A debut on 23 August 2018, starting in a 0–1 away loss against

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

. He scored his first goal in the category three days later, netting the winner in a 1–0 home success over

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 ...

, and subsequently renewed his contract until 2020 on the 28th. On 15 May 2019, after the arrival of

Neto Baiano Euvaldo José de Aguiar Neto (born September 17, 1982, in Salvador, Bahia), known as Neto Baiano, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Brasiliense FC as a forward. His previous clubs include Paulista, Fortaleza, Atlético-PR, Palmeiras, Jeonb ...

, Léo Ceará was loaned to fellow Série B side CRB until December. He returned to Vitória in January 2020 after scoring 14 league goals for CRB, being the club's top goalscorer and the third-best overall, but was demoted to the under-23 squad after failing to agree new terms over a new contract. Léo Ceará was only included back at Vitória's main squad in August 2020.

Yokohama F. Marinos is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Having won the J-League title four times an ...

announced on 23 January 2021 that Léo Ceará will be joining the club on a full transfer pending a medical to be performed upon arrival Japan (delayed for an indefinite period due to coronavirus immigration restrictions). He was included in the Vitória squad for the last time on 26 January 2021. Ceará left the club in 2022 after two years at Yokohama F. Marinos. On 27 December 2022, Ceará officially transferred to

for the upcoming 2023 season.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Yokohama F. Marinos *

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceara, Leo 1995 births Living people Footballers from Fortaleza Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Esporte Clube Vitória players Yokohama F. Marinos players Cerezo Osaka players Campinense Clube players Associação Desportiva Confiança players Clube de Regatas Brasil players J1 League players J3 League players FC Ryukyu players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan