Igor Vinícius de Souza (born 1 April 1997), known as Igor Vinícius, 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 lea ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

club Santos.

Club career

Santos

Born in

Sinop, Mato Grosso Sinop is a city in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. The fourth-largest city in the state, its population in 2022 is estimated at 196,312 inhabitants, placing Sinop in 155th place in Brazil. It has an area of 3194.339 km². A Sivam radar ...

, Igor Vinícius joined Santos' youth setup in 2010, aged 12. After progressing through the club's youth setup, he was called up to the main squad for a

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

match against Santos-AP on 20 April 2016. Igor Vinícius made his professional debut on 21 April 2016, coming on as a half-time substitute for fellow youth graduate Leandrinho in the 1–1 draw at the ''

Zerão Estádio Olímpico Milton de Souza Corrêa (), commonly known as Zerão , is a multi-purpose stadium located in Macapá, Brazil. It is used mostly for soccer, football matches and hosts the home matches of Esporte Clube Macapá, Oratório Recrea ...

''. He featured in just one more match for the first team before leaving in August of the following year.

Ituano

In September 2017, Igor Vinícius signed with Ituano until the end of 2019, being initially assigned to the under-20s to build match fitness. A regular starter during the 2018 Campeonato Paulista, he scored his first senior goal on 17 January in a 3–1 home win against São Caetano.

Ponte Preta (loan)

On 27 March 2018, Igor Vinícius was loaned to Ponte Preta until the end of the season. He was an undisputed starter for Ponte during the year, contributing with 30 appearances as his side narrowly missed out promotion.

São Paulo

On 4 December 2018, Igor Vinícius signed a one-year loan deal with

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. He made his debut for the club the following 3 February, starting in a 1–0 home win against São Bento. Initially a first-choice, Igor Vinícius lost space to

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...

, during the latter stages of the

2019 Campeonato Paulista The 2019 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Profissional da Primeira Divisão - Série A1 was the 118th season of São Paulo's top professional football league. Corinthians became the champion. Format *In the first stage the sixteen teams were draw ...

. He made his Série A debut on 27 April of that year, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 home defeat of

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. Igor Vinícius scored his first goal in the top tier on 8 December 2019, netting his team's second in a 2–1 away success over CSA. Twelve days later, São Paulo bought 50% of his economic rights for a fee of R$ 2 million, and he signed a three-year deal with the club. During the 2020 season, Igor Vinícius was a backup to Juanfran under head coach Fernando Diniz, and remained a backup in the following year under

Hernán Crespo Hernán Jorge Crespo (; born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach of UAE Pro League club Al Ain. A prolific striker, Crespo scored over 300 goals in a career spanning ...

. In 2022, he was again a second-choice behind new signing

Rafinha Rafinha is the diminutive form of the given name Rafael. It can refer to: Brazilian footballers * Rafinha (footballer, born 1982), Rafael Scapini de Almeida, midfielder and defender * Rafinha (footballer, born 1983), Rafael da Silva Francisco, mi ...

, but still renewed his contract until 2025 on 16 August of that year. In January 2023, Igor Vinícius was sidelined due to a pubalgia, and spent the remainder of the season sidelined after undergoing two surgeries. Back to action in the following season, he was regularly used before losing space in 2025, as head coach

Luis Zubeldía Luis Francisco Zubeldía (born 13 January 1981) is an Argentine Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A former midfielder, Zubeldía's career was mainly associated to Club Atlético Lanús, wh ...

chose to deploy Nahuel Ferraresi as a starter and had Cédric Soares as a backup.

Return to Santos

On 1 July 2025, Santos announced the return of Igor Vinícius on a three-year contract until June 2028.

Career statistics

Honours

;São Paulo *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Supercopa do Brasil The Supercopa do Brasil (), also known as Supercopa Rei (), is a Brazilian association football trophy organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It is contested between the champions of the Campeonato Brasileiro and the winners of ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

External links

Santos official profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Igor Vinicius de Souza 1997 births Living people People from Sinop, Mato Grosso Footballers from Mato Grosso Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Santos FC players Ituano FC players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players São Paulo FC players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen