Mauro Jaqueson Júnior Ferreira dos Santos

Mauro Júnior has spent his entire senior career at one club. Signed by PSV Eindhoven from Desportivo Brasil in June 2017 on a five-year deal, he joined the reserve side Jong PSV and worked his way up through the Eerste Divisie before a loan spell at Heracles Almelo sharpened him further in the Eredivisie. He has stayed with PSV's first team ever since. His contract has been extended twice, most recently running to June 2029, and he has made more than 140 appearances for the first team, over 200 in all competitions for the club.

At PSV he has collected four Eredivisie titles, two KNVB Cups and four Johan Cruijff Shields, and during the 2025/26 season, with injuries thinning out the squad's senior leaders, he wore the captain's armband.

Internationally, his path has run entirely through Brazil's youth ranks. He won the CONMEBOL Under-17 Championship in 2015 and later featured for the Under-20 and Under-23 sides, including a recall to the Olympic squad in November 2020 to cover for an injured team-mate. It was not until September 2026 that Carlo Ancelotti gave him his first senior call-up, naming him for friendlies against Australia and India — even if a senior debut was still to come at the time of the call-up.