Sérgio Henrique Santos Gomes (born 4 September 1994) 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

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

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Early life

Santos 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 ...

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 ...

. Growing up in the Ana Lucía neighborhood of Belo Horizonte, Santos worked as a bricklayer and construction worker to help his family. Santos joined América Mineiro at age nine beginning his development into a professional.

Playing career

Audax Italiano

In 2014, Santos began exploring professional options in

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 ...

. After trying negotiations with

Palestino Club Deportivo Palestino is a professional football club based in the city of Santiago, Chile. The club was founded in 1920 and plays in the Primera División de Chile. They play their home games at the Estadio Municipal de La Cisterna stadium ...

and Magallanes, he signed with

Audax Italiano Audax Club Sportivo Italiano () is a Chilean football club based in La Florida. Founded in 1910, it plays in the Campeonato Nacional and has spent most of its history in the top tier of Chilean football. Audax has been national champions four t ...

. In August 2018, Santos signed a contract extension with Italiano through mid-2020. Santos scored nine goals in 16 league appearances during the 2018 season for Audax and was the club's leading scorer. He helped the club qualify for the

2018 Copa Sudamericana The 2018 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 17th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or pt, Copa Sul-Americana), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Brazilia ...

and reach the

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

final, where the side finished as runners-up to

Philadelphia Union

On 14 December 2018, signed with

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

competing in

. The signing was completed for approximately $500,000 transfer fee and as a TAM-level player. After a slow start due to injuries, Santos scored his first two goals for the Union on May 5 versus

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

in a 6–1 victory. Santos would finish his first season with four goals and one assist. While the 2020 season was disrupted by

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Santos found his footing with the Union scoring the first goal of the season against

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...

. In October during a top of the table match-up, Santos scored his first professional hat trick against

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

(the fourth in Union history); earning him MLS Player of the Week honors. The season would end with the Union earning their first trophy in club history, the 2020 Supporters' Shield, leading the team with eight goals.

FC Cincinnati

On 8 July 2022, Santos was acquired from the Philadelphia Union by

, joining the club in exchange for $300,000 in allocation money, with an additional $625,000 dependent on performance-based metrics or contract conditions being met. Philadelphia will receive a percentage of a future trade if Santos is traded to another MLS club.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Philadelphia Union *

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

FC Cincinnati *

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References

External links

* * 1994 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Chilean Primera División players Audax Italiano footballers Philadelphia Union players Philadelphia Union II players FC Cincinnati players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Footballers from Belo Horizonte Men's association football forwards Major League Soccer players USL Championship players {{Brazil-footy-forward-1990s-stub