Leonardo Rodrigues Lima (born 2 August 1998), known as Léo Jabá, 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

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

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela da Amadora (), sometimes just Estrela, is a Portuguese sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. It's the successor of Clube de Futebol Estrela da Amadora, founded in 1932 and extinct in ...

on loan from São Bernardo.

Club career

Corinthians

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 GaWC a ...

, Léo Jabá joined

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 ...

' youth setup at the age of 11. He made his unofficial first team debut in a friendly on 22 July 2015, as he entered in the second half of Corinthians' 1–0 victory against

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

. Léo Jabá was a part of the under-20 team which finished second in both the 2016

Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior The Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior (or ''São Paulo Youth Football Cup'', in English), also known as Copa São Paulo de Juniores (''São Paulo Youth Cup'') and Copinha (''Little Cup''), is a cup competition played by Brazilian under-20 associ ...

and the 2016

Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 The Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 is the official Brazilian national football tournament for U-20 teams. The Rio Grande do Sul Football Association (FGF) created the competition in 2006 and since 2015 it is organized by the Brazilian Football C ...

, before being definitely promoted to the main squad in September of that year. He made his professional debut on 21 November, coming on as a late substitute for

Marlone Johnath Marlone Azevedo da Silva (born 2 April 1992), commonly known as Marlone, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Vila Nova. In the 2016 Copa Libertadores, Marlone scored a stunning strike in a 6–0 win over ...

in a 1–0 home win over

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

. Léo Jabá scored his first professional goal on 29 March 2017, netting the opener in a 3–1

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 ...

home win over Linense.

Akhmat Grozny

On 4 July 2017, Léo Jabá joined

Akhmat Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat ( ce, футболан клуб Ахмат Соьлжа-ГӀала; russian: Республиканский футбольный клуб Ахмат Грозный), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, is a Russian ...

of the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

, for a rumoured fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

2 million. He made his debut abroad twelve days later, starting and scoring the winner in a 1–0 home success over

Amkar Perm FC Amkar Perm (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб "Амка́р" Пермь ) is a professional football club. Originally founded in 1994, it is based in the city of Perm. It was a participant in second-tier football from 1995 and ...

. Initially a first-choice, Léo Jabá lost his starting spot in April 2018, and finished the season with three goals in 25 appearances overall.

PAOK

On 20 June 2018, PAOK signed Léo Jabá on a five-year deal, for a €3.5 million fee. He made his debut for his new side on 24 July, starting in a 2–1 home win over

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

, for the campaign's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. On 15 September 2018, Léo Jabá scored his first goal of the 2018–19 Super League season, netting his team's third in a 3–1 away win against OFI. On 4 October, he scored a brace and provided two assists in a 4–1 away routing of BATE Borisov in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

group stage. On 3 March 2019, Léo Jabá scored a crucial goal, despite his red card in the second half, sealing a 2–0 away win against rivals

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

in his club's effort to win the title undefeated. Amidst interest from

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

, he finished the season with seven goals in 39 appearances in all competitions. In May 2020, after losing space under manager

Abel Ferreira Abel Fernando Moreira Ferreira (born 22 December 1978), known simply as Abel as a player, is a Portuguese football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Brazilian club Palmeiras. As a right-back, he played 234 Primeira Li ...

, Léo Jabá suffered a

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury, missing out the remainder of the season.

Loan to Vasco da Gama

On 25 March 2021, Jabá was loaned to

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

until December. He was regularly used by the club during the year, but did not sign a permanent deal as the club announced his departure on 2 December.

2022: return from loan

On 12 January 2022, Léo Jabá returned to action for PAOK after 488, scoring his team's second a 2–0 home win game against

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναιτωλικός), or with its full name Panetolikós Yimnastikós Filekpedeftikós Síllogos ( el, Παναιτωλικός Γυμναστικός Φιλεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος'' ...

and knocking down manager

Răzvan Lucescu Răzvan Lucescu (; born 17 February 1969) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club PAOK. As a player, he operated as a goalkeeper and spent most years of his career at ...

in his celebration. He played a further eleven matches during the remainder of the 2021–22 season, scoring another goal against

Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...

on 6 March.

São Bernardo

On 8 December 2022, Léo Jabá returned to his home country and was announced as the new signing for Série C side São Bernardo. He scored three goals in ten appearances during the

2023 Campeonato Paulista The 2023 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Profissional da Primeira Divisão - Série A1 was the 122nd season of São Paulo's top professional football league. The competition was played from 15 January to 9 April 2023. Palmeiras won their 25th tit ...

, as the club lifted the Taça Independência, given to the eliminated sides of the countryside.

Personal life

Léo Jabá's younger brother Leandro is also a footballer and a forward. He played for several youth teams before moving to

FK Pardubice FK Pardubice is a Czech football club located in the city of Pardubice. It currently plays in the Czech First League. The club is the successor of TJ Tesla Pardubice, which merged with FC Loko Pardubice in 2008. History The club advanced to the ...

in 2022.

Career statistics

Honours

Corinthians *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

PAOK *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 2018–19 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: 2018–19;Runner-Up : 2021–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaba, Leo 1998 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football forwards Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players FC Akhmat Grozny players PAOK FC players CR Vasco da Gama players São Bernardo Futebol Clube players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Russian Premier League players Super League Greece players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal