Kansas City Current sign World Cup defender from Brazil

The Kansas City Current have signed 20-year-old Lauren Eduarda Leal Costa through the 2024 season, with an option for 2025. Along with her new Kansas City Current teammate Debinha, the young center back is in Australia now with Brazil in the 2023 FIFA World Cup. She will report to the Kansas City Current following her country’s run through the tournament. In a separate transaction, Kansas City traded $100,000 and a 2024 international slot in exchange for the North Carolina Courage relinquishing its exclusive rights for the player. 

World-class talent worth the wait 😏

Brazilian World Cup defender, @laurenleal_, is coming to Kansas City 🙌🇧🇷#KCBABY pic.twitter.com/DNEAO2TvXH

— KC Current (@thekccurrent) July 24, 2023

“Having the chance to bring someone of Lauren’s class to Kansas City is an easy decision for us,” said Kansas City Current general manager Camille Ashton. “She’s a promising young center back with international experience and we believe she has the ability to elevate our relentless grit on the pitch. To have not one but two Brazilian national team players here in Kansas City will make this an exciting brand of soccer to watch every match night.” 

Lauren made her senior team debut for Brazil on September 20, 2021, entering the match in the second half on the way to a 4-1 win over Argentina. Her first start came later that year when she played the full 90 minutes of a 4-1 victory over Venezuela. She has 11 caps for Brazil. In 2023 she has started three of the team’s six games and appeared in all but one.   

Although 2023 will be her first senior team World Cup appearance, Lauren helped Brazil to a third-place finish at the 2022 FIFA U20 World Cup in Costa Rica. She first appeared on the international scene with Brazil’s youth teams in 2019. At only 16 years old she made her debut with the Brazil U20 team, playing 90 minutes against France. An intelligent and tactical defender, Lauren has 30 appearances with Brazil’s youth and senior national teams and has only collected three yellow cards. 

In 2020, at only 17 years old, Lauren started her professional career in Brazil’s largest city with São Paulo FC. She played 27 games with the club through two seasons before transferring to Spain to play for Madrid CFF in 2021. She made 40 appearances for Madrid and helped the team to the 2022 Copa de la Reina quarterfinals.