Léo Lacroix (born 27 February 1992) is a Swiss 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 defender for Saudi Arabian club Al-Jabalain.

Club career

On 31 August 2016,

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

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

announced that they had reached an agreement for the transfer of Lacroix. Lacroix signed a four-year contract and in his first season he had 20 appearances in the

2016–17 Ligue 1 The 2016–17 Ligue 1 season was the 79th season since its establishment. Paris Saint-Germain were the defending champions. The fixtures were announced on 1 June 2016. The season began on 12 August 2016 and ended on 20 May 2017. On 17 May 2017, ...

. In the

2017–18 Ligue 1 The 2017–18 Ligue 1 season, also known as Ligue 1 Conforama for sponsorship reasons, was the 80th season since its establishment. The season started on 4 August 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018. AS Monaco FC, Monaco were the defending champions. O ...

season he played 11 games for the team, but was then loaned out to Swiss club

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. Lacroix joined Basel's first team in the winter break of their 2017–18 season under head coach

Raphaël Wicky Raphaël Wicky (born 26 April 1977) is a Swiss football coach and a former defender. He was most recently the manager of Swiss Super League club Young Boys, whom he led to a domestic double. He was a defensive midfielder who could also play i ...

. The loan was dated until summer 2018, with the option of a definite transfer. Basel had to find a replacement for

Manuel Akanji Manuel Obafemi Akanji (; born 19 July 1995) is a Swiss professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and the Switzerland national football t ...

, who had transferred out to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. Lacroix played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Stockhorn Arena Stockhorn Arena (formerly known as Arena Thun) is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium in Thun, Switzerland. It has a capacity of 10,000 spectators and opened in 2011. It is the home of FC Thun of the Swiss Super League. History From 1954 ...

on 10 February as Basel won 2–0 against

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

. Lacroix stayed with Basel until the end of the season, but the club did not pull the option. During his short period with the club Lacroix played a total of 12 games for Basel without scoring a goal. Nine of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

, one in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

and two games against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the

2017–18 UEFA Champions League knockout phase The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League knockout phase began on 13 February and ended on 26 May 2018 with the final at the NSC Olimpiyskiy in Kyiv, Ukraine, to decide the champions of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League. A total of 16 teams competed ...

. In September 2021, Lacroix signed with Australian club Western United. Lacroix spent two seasons at Western United, before departing at the end of the 2022-23 season. On 17 July 2023, he moved to Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club FC U Craiova on a one-year deal, with an extension option. On 13 May 2024, his contract was terminated by mutual consent, a day after a 1–3 loss to Hermannstadt, resulting in FC U Craiova's last-place finish and relegation to the second division. On 22 August 2024, Lacroix joined Saudi Arabian club Al-Jabalain.

International career

Lacroix was born in Switzerland, and is of Brazilian descent through his mother. He got his first call up to the senior

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

side for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

qualifiers against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

in October 2016. He made his debut for the national team on 14 November 2018 in a friendly against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;Sion *

: 2014–15 ;Western United *

A-League Men A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as ...

: 2021–22 ;Individual * A-Leagues All Star:

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 ...

* PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacroix, Leo 1992 births Living people Footballers from Lausanne Swiss people of Brazilian descent Men's association football defenders Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Swiss Super League players Ligue 1 players 2. Bundesliga players A-League Men players A-League Men All-Stars Liga I players Saudi First Division League players FC Sion players AS Saint-Étienne players FC Basel players Hamburger SV players Western United FC players FC U Craiova 1948 players Al-Jabalain FC players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia 21st-century Swiss sportsmen