Carol Carioca

Carolina Conceição Martins Pereira (born 18 February 1983), commonly known as Carol Carioca, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a centre back for Série A2 club Foz Cataratas FC.

Carol Carioca

Personal information
Full name	Carolina Conceição Martins Pereira
Date of birth	18 February 1983
Place of birth	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Centre back
Club information
Current team	Foz Cataratas
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2001–2002	Vasco
2002	América de Rio Preto
2003–2004	Santos
2005–2008	Botucatu
2008–2009	Jena
2010–2011	Botucatu
2011	CRESSPOM
2012	Chungbuk Sportstoto
2013	Duque de Caxias
2014	Portuguesa
2014	Foz Cataratas	4	(0)
2014	Vitória das Tabocas
2015	São Paulo
2015	Centro Olímpico	3	(0)
2016	União	0	(0)
2017	Kindermann	2	(0)
2017	CRESSPOM	7	(1)
2018	Foz Cataratas	10	(0)
2018–2019[1]	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	21	(3)
2019	Fluminense
2020–	Foz Cataratas	7	(3)
National team^‡
2008–2016	Equatorial Guinea	8	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 November 2020 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 June 2011 (before the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup)

She was part of the Equatorial Guinea women's national football team at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.[2]

On October 5, 2017, FIFA declared Carol and other nine Brazilian footballers ineligible to play for Equatorial Guinea.[3]

Football career

Carolina Conceição Martins Pereira first became involved in footballer through her father, who she both attended games with and watched televised matches. She would also play street football with teams of boys, although her mother disapproved. Pereira is Brazilian by birth, but had been invited to Equatorial Guinea to play football in 2007. After staying in the country, she was recruited for the women's national football team. She caught malaria the following year, which she said was one of the low lights of her career along with the results of a career threatening ankle surgery in 2009 which she was told might mean she could no longer play football.[4] As a footballer, she plays under the name "Carol Carioca".[5]

In April 2010, she was one of several high profile players who helped draw the group states of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup held later that year in Germany.[6] Pereira was included in the Equatorial Guinea squad for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, held in Germany.[7] This was the first time the nation had qualified to appear at the Women's World Cup, and Pereira said that doing so was her proudest moment as a footballer so far. The first round match between Equatorial Guinea and Brazil was the first time a Brazilian player naturalized for another nation had played against them in women's football.[4]

When Pereira was a member of the Equatorial Guinea team that won the 2012 African Women's Championship, she was one of 11 out of the 21 players who were naturalized Brazilians playing as Equatoguineans.[8][9]

Notes

1. "Carilona MARTINS PEREIRA". Israel Football Association. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
2. "Official squad list 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup". FIFA. 17 June 2011. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
3. "Equatorial Guinea expelled from FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019". FIFA.com. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
4. "Carolina Conceição Martins Pereira Interview on Women's Soccer United". Women's Soccer United. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
5. "Carol Carioca". Soccerway. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
6. "Falconets to meet England,Mexico and Japan". All Nigeria Soccer. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
7. "Official squad lists submitted". FIFA. 17 June 2011. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
8. Agergaard & Tiesler 2014, p. 90.
9. Agergaard & Tiesler 2014, p. 98.

References

• Agergaard, Sine; Tiesler, Nina Clara (2014). Women, Soccer and Transnational Migration. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41582-459-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)