Leonardo Derrick

Some players find their footing by trial. Léo Derik found his at fourteen, when Athletico Paranaense's academy took him into its Under-13 category in 2019 and never let him go. Every step of the ladder that followed — youth teams, reserve sides, first-team training — happened inside the same club. He has never worn another shirt.

The step onto the professional stage came on 14 January 2025, in a Campeonato Paranaense fixture against Rio Branco. Athletico were already cruising, 5-1 up, when Derik was sent on for the last five minutes. It was a debut with no weight resting on it, which made it easier to make. Since then he has become a regular fixture in the squad, with 39 appearances for the first team, 24 of them coming this season alone.

Not every earlier chapter went as smoothly. In the 2023 edition of the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior — the Copinha, Brazilian football's proving ground for teenagers — Derik missed a penalty against Floresta, and the miss sent his side out of the competition. It is the kind of moment a young player either buries or builds from; at Athletico, he stayed and kept working.

That persistence has started to draw wider notice. In 2026, his name appeared among the young defenders being mentioned as possible call-ups for Brazil ahead of the World Cup — recognition of potential rather than a guarantee of the shirt, but a marker of how far the academy graduate has travelled since his first training sessions as a young teenager in the Furacão's youth ranks.