Gerson Rodrigues Correia Leal (born 20 June 1995) is a 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 lea ...

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) ** Smal ...

for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club AVS, on loan from Ukrainian side

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

. Born in Portugal, he plays for the Luxembourg national team. A goalscoring midfielder, Rodrigues is the first Luxembourgish footballer to play in the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. He is currently the all-time leading goalscorer for the Luxembourg national team. Rodrigues was convicted of three counts of assault and battery on 26 March 2025, one of which involved domestic violence against his former partner. He received an 18-month suspended prison sentence, a fine of €1,500, and had to pay €2,430 in damages to his ex-partner. He continues to play for the Luxembourg national team, a move which has outraged female politicians and female rights groups.

Club career

Early career

Rodrigues was born in the Portuguese town of Pragal, near

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. He began his youth career in France with

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

. He was unable to make a breakthrough into the first-team squad at Metz and went on to play club football in Luxembourg for

FC Swift Hesperange Football Club Swift Hesperange (, ) is a association football, football football club, club, based in Hesperange, in southern Luxembourg. History *1916: Club founded as ''FC Swift Hesperange'' *1940: Club renamed as ''FV Rot-Weiß Hesperingen'' ...

Racing FC Union Luxembourg Racing Fussball Club Union Luxembourg (), usually abbreviated to Racing-Union, is a professional football club based in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. The etymology of the name originates from Racing Club Luxembourg and Union Sport ...

, and

CS Fola Esch Sporting Circle Fola Esch (), usually abbreviated to Fola Esch or simply Fola, is a professional football club based in Esch-sur-Alzette, in south-western Luxembourg. They play their home games at Stade Émile Mayrisch, in the south of the city ...

. From there, he moved to

SC Telstar Sportclub Telstar () is a Dutch professional football club based in the town of Velsen-Zuid, North Holland. The team competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in t ...

in the Netherlands. On 30 January 2018, Rodrigues signed for

Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier o ...

. On 10 July 2018, he made his debut in the

qualifying round against

Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi ( Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი ტორპედო ქუთაისი) is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city. The team competes in the Erovnuli ...

. After winning the league title with Sheriff in Moldova, Rodrigues signed for

Júbilo Iwata is a Japanese professional association football, football team based in Iwata, Shizuoka, Iwata, located in Shizuoka Prefecture. The club competes in J2 League following relegation from J1 League in 2024 J1 League, 2024. Etymology The team's ...

on 16 January 2019. He quickly became a key player for Júbilo, scoring 7 goals in 18 matches for the club.

Dynamo Kyiv

2019–20 season

On 2 August 2019, Rodrigues signed a contract with

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet ...

. On 31 January 2020, Rodrigues moved on loan to Ankaragücü in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

for the remainder of the season. Rodrigues and teammate Ante Kulušić were involved in a training ground dust-up in July 2020. He was removed from the squad for the following match against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

and his loan was subsequently ended. In his time with Ankaragücü, Rodrigues scored six goals and notched one assist in 11 league matches as the club finished in last place but were saved from relegation as the league was expanded to 21 clubs for the

2020–21 Süper Lig The 2020–21 Süper Lig, officially called the Süper Lig 2020–21 season, was the 63rd season of the Süper Lig, the highest tier football league of Turkey. Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, ...

season because of complications from the

COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...

2020–21 season: Double winners

In the

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

on 25 August 2020, Rodrigues scored the winning goal in an eventual 3–1 triumph over

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

. On 15 September, Rodrigues opened the scoring against Dutch side

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

of the

as his side won 2–0. Rodrigues scored from the penalty spot in the play-off round against Belgian side

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

, capping a 5–1 win on aggregate and securing a place in the group stage. Rodrigues featured in the club's first group stage match against

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

giants

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

on 20 October, and in doing so became the first Luxembourgish player to play in the group stage of the Champions League. Rodrigues was an important member of the Dynamo Kyiv squad that won the domestic double of the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

and

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

during the 2020–21 season.

2021–22 season: Loans to Troyes and Eyüpspor

On 31 August 2021, Rodrigues joined newly promoted

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

on a season-long loan. The club held an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. On 7 March 2022,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

announced that, due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, all the contracts of foreign players in Ukraine are suspended until 30 June 2022 and they are allowed to sign with clubs outside Ukraine until that date. On 30 March 2022, Rodrigues signed with Turkish club

Eyüpspor Eyüpspor Kulübü, known as ikas Eyüpspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional association football, football club located in the Eyüpsultan district of Istanbul. Their colours are lavender and yellow. Their home ground is Eyü ...

until 30 June 2022 using the new rule. He played on loan in the 2022-2023 season for Al Wehda (Saudi Arabia).

International career

Rodrigues made his international debut for

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

in 2017. On 21 March 2019, he scored his first goal for the national team and Luxembourg's second of the match, as they came back from a goal behind against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

to win 2–1 in

UEFA Euro 2020 qualification The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

. On 27 March 2021, Rodrigues scored the only goal in a famous 1–0 victory away to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

. Three days later, Rodrigues followed this up by scoring the opening goal for Luxembourg against his country of birth, European champions

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, to take a shock lead, but they eventually fell to a 1–3 defeat.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Luxembourg's goal tally first.''

Honours

Sheriff Tiraspol * Divizia Nationala:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Dynamo Kyiv *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 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 even ...

Slovan Bratislava *

Slovak First Football League The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Slovak football league system. It was formed in 1993 following th ...

: 2023–24

Personal life

Rodrigues became a Luxembourgish citizen in March 2017 after officially requesting it to the authorities. He thus became immediately eligible for the national team of Luxembourg. He still retains his Portuguese citizenship as of today. After his conviction for assault and battery, one of which involved domestic violence against his former partner, Rodrigues continued to play for the Luxembourg international football team. This caused outcry among leaders and groups including MP

Corinne Cahen Corinne Cahen (born 16 May 1973) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as Minister of Family and Integration and Minister of the Greater Region in the Bettel I and II governments. She was born in Luxembourg City, and grew up in a Jewish fa ...

and the Conseil National de Femmes du Luxembourg. A journalist for Le Quotidien was excluded from a Luxembourg Football press event due to his negative coverage of Rodrigues's selection for the national team.

References

External links