Leonardo de Sousa Pereira (born 3 February 1995), commonly known as Léo Ceará, 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 forward for club

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

Club career

Born in

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

, 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 (English: ''Cup of the North-East''), also known as Campeonato do Nordeste (''English: Championship of the North-East'') or Copa Nordeste (English: ''Northeastern Cup'') is a Brazilian football competition among Northeastern re ...

. 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 under the organization of J.League. The league is known as the for sponsorship reasons. The third-tier nation ...

club

FC Ryukyu is a Japanese professional football club based in Okinawa. The club plays in the J3 League, Japanese third tier of professional football. The team's home stadium is Okinawa Athletic Park Stadium, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The team derive ...

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 (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

. 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, 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 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

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 Osak ...

for the upcoming 2023 season. After two seasons at Cerezo, on 6 January 2025 it was announced that Ceará would be transferring to fellow J1 League club

for the 2025 season.

Career statistics

Honours

Yokohama F. Marinos *

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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 Kashima Antlers 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 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen