Kerolin

Brazilian footballer (born 1999)

Kerolin
Personal information
Full name Kerolin Nicoli Israel Ferraz[1]
Date of birth (1999-11-17) 17 November 1999 (age 24)
Place of birth Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil
Height 1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
North Carolina Courage
Number 9
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016 Valinhos
2017 Ponte Preta 14 (2)
2017 Palmeiras 4 (0)
2018 Ponte Preta 10 (3)
Osasco Audax 3 (1)
2019 Palmeiras 0 (0)
2021 Madrid CFF 24 (5)
2022– North Carolina Courage 24 (13)
International career
2018 Brazil U-20
2018– Brazil 35 (5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:09, 11 June 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 April 2023 (UTC)

Kerolin Nicoli Israel Ferraz (born 17 November 1999), commonly known as Kerolin, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for the North Carolina Courage[2] in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and for the Brazil national team as a forward.[3][4] In 2018, she was elected the breakout female player in the Brasileirão by the Brazilian Football Confederation, having scored 14 goals in 35 games for Ponte Preta.[5][6] She was named the 2023 NWSL Most Valuable Player.

Early life

Kerolin was raised by her mother and was estranged from her father. The family lived in Bauru, then moved to Campinas, where they lodged on a farm as they could not afford to pay rent. When she was 12 years old Kerolin was hospitalised with osteomyelitis and cellulitis in her leg and advised to stop playing contact sport.[7]

Club career

Kerolin was among several promising young footballers to emerge from the youth system of Valinhos Futebol Clube, a women's team run by the local authority's sports and leisure department and coached by Ana Lúcia Gonçalves.[8] Valinhos agreed a collaboration with Guarani FC in January 2016, to enter the 2016 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Feminino as Guarani/Valinhos.[9]

When Associação Atlética Ponte Preta decided to form a women's section in 2017, they took over the Valinhos club, with 17-year-old Kerolin among the squad they inherited.[10] She was voted the best player of the 2017 Campeonato Paulista after scoring 10 goals in 21 games for semi-finalists Ponte Preta.[11]

She was then sent on loan to Corinthians/Audax for their successful 2017 Copa Libertadores Femenina campaign in October 2017.[11] She scored in a penalty shootout win over Colo-Colo following a 0–0 draw in the final at Estadio Arsenio Erico, Asunción.[12]

In 2018 she scored 14 goals in 35 games for Ponte Preta and was named Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino "Revelação" (transl. Revelation) at the end of season awards. It was reported that Kerolin's consistently good performances for Ponte Preta and the youth national teams made her a transfer target for other Brazilian clubs, as well as for professional clubs in France and China.[13]

The combined Corinthians/Audax team which Kerolin had helped to win the 2017 Copa Libertadores split when Corinthians withdrew from that partnership and set up their own women's team. This left Audax with a slot at the 2018 Copa Libertadores Femenina but with no team. A deal was made for Valinhos (who had been playing as Ponte Preta in domestic competitions) to represent Audax at the Copa Libertadores.[14] Kerolin scored in a 4–0 win over Peñarol, but Audax were eliminated at the group stage.

Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras urgently required a women's team in December 2018, as they faced being banned from the lucrative men's Copa Libertadores under CONMEBOL rules which required all participants to run women's teams. A partnership agreement saw Palmeiras agree to fund the salaries of the Valinhos players and staff, who would use the Palmeiras name but continue to play and train in Valinhos.[15]

In January 2019 Kerolin agreed the transfer to Palmeiras, signing a one-year contract and joining up again with her previous coach Ana Lúcia Gonçalves.[16] The following month it was announced that Kerolin had failed a doping test taken after playing for Audax in a match at the 2018 Copa Libertadores Femenina.[17] Kerolin's sample revealed traces of GW1516. She remained provisionally suspended by CONMEBOL in July 2019, when Palmeiras's coach Gonçalves was sacked on suspicion of involvement in doping cases affecting the clubs she had worked at and inappropriately acting as a sports agent for the players in her charge.[18]

Madrid

In April 2021, having served her ban, Kerolin transferred to Madrid CFF. She joined several other Brazilian players at the Spanish Primera División club, and thanked God for the opportunity to restart her football career.[19]

North Carolina Courage

Kerolin in a huddle after scoring in the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup final

In January 2022, Kerolin signed a three-year deal with the North Carolina Courage.[20] She was named most valuable player of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup final.[21] On 26 October 2022, she was named to the NWSL Best XI second team.[22]

On 10 June 2023, Kerolin scored her first NWSL hat-trick in a 5–0 win against Chicago Red Stars.[23] With a league second-most 10 goals to help the Courage defend their Challenge Cup title and earn the playoffs 3rd seed, Kerolin was given the NWSL Most Valuable Player award in 2023.[21]

International career

Kerolin in 2022

Kerolin was one of four Guarani/Valinhos players to be called up by the Brazil women's national under-17 football team for the 2016 South American U-17 Women's Championship.[24] She remained in the squad for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Jordan.[25] In 2018, Kerolin scored two goals over three games she played representing the Brazil women's national under-20 football team at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in France.[26]

The senior Brazil women's national football team head coach Vadão called Kerolin up for the first time in September 2018, for a friendly match against England at Meadow Lane, Nottingham.[27] She earned her first cap in the match, appearing as a 56th-minute substitute for Debinha in Brazil's 1–0 defeat.[28]

After breaking into the senior national team, she was praised by veteran teammate Formiga: "Kerolin has a huge future. She's got so much talent and she doesn't have fear. If she keeps her feet on the ground, she can go as far as she wants. It's up to her."[29]

Kerolin was not eligible to play at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup because she was provisionally suspended from football and still awaiting the final judgement from CONMEBOL in respect of her failed doping tests.[7]

On 6 January 2021, Kerolin's suspension ended and she was called into a national team training camp for evaluation by Brazil's new coach Pia Sundhage.[30] Sundhage said: "I heard a lot of good things about her [Kerolin]. She is an excellent player. Yes, she has been out of action for two years, but we will see how she will do."[31]

International goals

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 20 September 2021 Amigão, Paraíba, Brazil  Argentina 1–0 4–1 Friendly
2. 26 November 2021 Arena da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil  India 4–1 6–1 2021 International Women's Football Tournament of Manaus
3. 28 November 2021  Venezuela 1–1 4–1
4. 3–1
5. 1 December 2021  Chile 1–0 2–0

Honours

North Carolina Courage

Brazil

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b "List of Players - Brazil" (PDF). FIFA. 5 August 2018. p. 1. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  2. ^ Communications, NC Courage (10 January 2022). "Brazilian International Kerolin Joins NC Courage". North Carolina Courage. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Kerolin Player Profile - ESPN FC". www.espnfc.com. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Kerolin :: Kerolin Nicoli Israel Ferraz :: Palmeiras". www.ogol.com.br (in Breton). Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Elenco Feminino , Associação Atlética Ponte Preta". pontepreta.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). 9 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Kerolin, da Ponte Preta, é eleita revelação do Brasileirão 2018". Lance! (in Brazilian Portuguese). 4 December 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  7. ^ a b Barlem, Cíntia (29 July 2019). "Kerolin lembra passado de luta e fala sobre acusação de doping: "Esse processo vai me fortalecer"" (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Técnico da CBF elogia estrutura do futebol feminino em visita a Valinhos" (in Portuguese). Prefeitura de Valinhos. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Guarani fecha parceria com a Secretaria de Esportes e Lazer de Valinhos" (in Portuguese). Guarani FC. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Meninas da Macaca: com parceria de Valinhos e apoio da Pilot, Ponte lança time feminino para a disputa do Brasileiro; técnica Aninha diz que torcida pode esperar muito empenho e garra para representar a camisa alvinegra" (in Portuguese). Associação Atlética Ponte Preta. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  11. ^ a b "As jogadoras da Valinhos/Ponte foram destaques no Paulista Feminino de Futebol" (in Portuguese). Prefeitura Municipal de Valinhos. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  12. ^ "0-0: Corinthians, campeón de la Libertadores" (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 22 October 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  13. ^ Barlem, Cíntia (30 August 2018). "Monitorada por Vadão na Seleção, Kerolin desperta interesse de clubes do Brasil e exterior" (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  14. ^ Silvio, Marcio (5 November 2018). "Em Valinhos, Audax fecha com a Ponte Preta para a Libertadores" (in Portuguese). QG Notícias. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  15. ^ De Laurentiis, Francisco; Munhos, Mayara (29 December 2018). "Palmeiras tenta montar time feminino 'às pressas' para atender exigência da Conmebol" (in Portuguese). ESPN. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  16. ^ Barlem, Cintia (17 January 2019). "Kerolin revela que tem acordo encaminhado com o Palmeiras para temporada 2019" (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  17. ^ Barlem, Cíntia (21 February 2019). "Revelação da Seleção e cotada para o Mundial, Kerolin é flagrada em exame antidoping" (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  18. ^ Lavieri, Danilo (26 July 2019). "Palmeiras demitiu técnica por suspeita de envolvimento em casos de doping" (in Portuguese). Universo Online. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  19. ^ Jiménez, Mayca (2 April 2021). "El Madrid CFF recluta más talento brasileño: Kerolin, nuevo fichaje" (in Spanish). Diario AS. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Brazilian International Kerolin Joins NC Courage". North Carolina Courage. 10 January 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  21. ^ a b "North Carolina Courage Attacker Kerolin Named 2023 NWSL Most Valuable Player Presented by Bud Light". NWSL Soccer. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  22. ^ "NWSL announces winners of 2022 Best XI Awards". SoccerWire (Press release). National Women's Soccer League. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  23. ^ Rantz, Susie (10 June 2023). "Kerolin hat trick powers Courage to 5-0 win over Red Stars". San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  24. ^ "Atletas do Guarani/Valinhos são convocadas para o Sul-Americano Sub 17" (in Portuguese). Folha de Valinhos. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  25. ^ do Nascimento Pereira, André; Leme de Arruda, Marcelo (1 December 2018). "SELEÇÃO BRASILEIRA SUB-17 FEMININA (WOMENS' U-17 BRAZILIAN NATIONAL TEAM) 2008-2018" (in Portuguese). Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  26. ^ FIFA.com. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup France 2018 - Brazil". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  27. ^ Aredes, Elias (18 September 2018). "Seleção: Kerolin é convocada" (in Portuguese). Jornal TodoDia. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  28. ^ "Seleção Feminina é superada pela Inglaterra por 1 a 0" (in Portuguese). Brazilian Football Confederation. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  29. ^ "Formiga: I want to emulate Roger Milla". FIFA. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  30. ^ Barlem, Cíntia (25 December 2020). "Duda Luizelli diz que lista de Pia não está fechada para Tóquio, fala sobre Kerolin e desenha calendário de 2021" (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  31. ^ Chaves, Lincoln (14 December 2020). "Pia anuncia quatro novidades em convocação da seleção feminina" (in Portuguese). Agência Brasil. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  32. ^ "Brasil conquista su octava estrella en la CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 30 July 2022.
  33. ^ "NWSL Announces Winners of 2023 Mastercard Best XI Awards". 6 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  34. ^ "North Carolina Courage Attacker Kerolin Named 2023 NWSL Most Valuable Player Presented by Bud Light". NWSL Soccer. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.

External links

  • Kerolin at Soccerway
  • Kerolin at FBref.com
  • v
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North Carolina Courage – current squad
Brazil squads
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  • e
Brazil squad2022 Copa América Femenina winners (8th title)
Brazil
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  • e
Brazil squad2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
Brazil
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