Lucas Soares

Cruzeiro's academy gave Lucas Soares his football, but not a first-team debut. He came up through the Goiás, Vila Nova and Cruzeiro youth ranks in his home city of Goiânia and was called up to Cruzeiro's senior squad in 2017-18 without ever taking the pitch for the club. What he did have from those years was silverware: Cruzeiro's Sub-20 side won the Campeonato Brasileiro and the Supercopa do Brasil in 2017, both with Soares in the squad.

The move that actually launched his career came in January 2019, when he left Brazil for Alverca in Portugal's third tier. From there the path ran through Vitória Guimarães, where two years were split between the B team in the Campeonato de Portugal and occasional appearances for the first team, including a Europa League outing. A loan to Casa Pia in July 2021 turned permanent a year later, and it was there that Soares became a regular, playing 29 games as the Lisbon club won promotion to the Primeira Liga and 27 more once they arrived in the top flight.

He joined Santa Clara as a free agent in the summer of 2023 on a contract running to 2027. Soares started 32 league games in the 2023/24 Liga Portugal 2 season plus three in the Taça de Portugal, helping the Azorean club win the division and earning a place in that season's Team of the Year. Santa Clara's promotion carried him into the Primeira Liga, where in 2024/25 he made 30 appearances and provided three assists for a side adjusting to life in the top division.