Luciana Maria Dionizio (born 24 July 1987), commonly known as Luciana, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Ferroviária and the Brazilian national team. She participated at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
![]() Luciana at the 2015 Algarve Cup | ||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Luciana Maria Dionizio[1] | |||||||||||||||
Date of birth | (1987-07-24) 24 July 1987 (age 34) | |||||||||||||||
Place of birth |
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil | |||||||||||||||
Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | |||||||||||||||
Club information | ||||||||||||||||
Current team | Ferroviária | |||||||||||||||
Number | 1[2] | |||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
Corinthians | ||||||||||||||||
Atlético Mineiro | ||||||||||||||||
2007–2012 | Francana | |||||||||||||||
2013– | Ferroviária | 82 | (0) | |||||||||||||
National team‡ | ||||||||||||||||
2013– | Brazil | 37 | (0) | |||||||||||||
Honours
| ||||||||||||||||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17:27, 23 June 2015 (UTC) |
Luciana was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.[3] She began playing football as a child with her brothers, but became a goalkeeper because she did not enjoy running. She admired the calmness and serenity displayed by her football role model, male Brazilian goalkeeper Dida.[4]
In the early part of her career Luciana had spells with Corinthians and Atlético Mineiro.[5] She played for Francana from 2007 until 2012, then joined local rivals Ferroviária ahead of the 2013 season.[6] In April 2014, Luciana saved three penalties in Ferroviária's shootout win over São José in the 2014 Copa do Brasil final.[7]
At the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship, Atlético Mineiro player Luciana was part of the Brazilian squad which finished third.[8] After appearing in the senior Brazil squad in 2009, Luciana was not selected again until May 2013 when good form with her club led to a recall for a friendly in Sweden.[9]
She made her senior international debut in December 2013, starting Brazil's 2–0 win over Chile at the 2013 Torneio Internacional de Brasília de Futebol Feminino. After getting a second chance in the national team, Luciana was keen to become the number one goalkeeper ahead of experienced rivals Bárbara and Andréia Suntaque.[10]
At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Luciana kept clean sheets in all three matches as Brazil qualified from their group without conceding a goal. In the second round match against Australia, Luciana took responsibility for Brazil's defeat when she spilled a shot to Kyah Simon, who scored Australia's winning goal.[11]
Luciana remained in Canada as part of the Brazilian selection for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
Brazil squads | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
![]() ![]() | This biographical article related to women's association football in Brazil is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |