Caio Lucas Fernandes (born 19 April 1994), known as Caio Lucas or just Caio , is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a winger for

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

club

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

. Born in Brazil, he represents the United Arab Emirates at

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

level.

Club career

Born in

Araçatuba Araçatuba is a city located in the northwest of São Paulo state, Brazil. The city has 198,129 inhabitants (IBGE/2020) and spans . The city name comes from the Tupi language and means "abundance of araçá" (a fruit, Psidium cattleianum). Araç ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Caio Lucas started playing football in 2002, aged 8, at local clubs SMER Bosque Araçatuba and América-SP. He then played for

's youth teams from 2005 to 2009 but could not become professional, so he left the club and unsuccessfully tried to join rivals Santos and

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

before returning to América. In 2011, when he was prepared to give up on football, he was discovered by a Japanese university that was playing in Birigui, Brazil. Almost aged 17, he moved to Japan that year to enroll in Chiba Kokusai High School in

Kimitsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 83,058 in 39,138 households and a population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Overview The area along Tokyo ...

, where he played for three years. After his

graduation A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called Commencement speech, commencement, Congregation (university), congregation, Convocat ...

, Caio Lucas joined the

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

club, the

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

in 2014. In his first professional season, under the coaching of

Toninho Cerezo Antônio Carlos Cerezo (born 21 April 1955), known as Toninho Cerezo (), is a Brazilian former footballer. Cerezo is commonly regarded as one of the finest Brazilian defensive midfielders of all time, most notably having played for his hometown ...

, Caio scored eight goals as Kashima Antlers qualified for the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

. Moreover, he was named J. League's Young Player of the Year in 2014 and won the

2016 J1 League The 2016 Meiji Yasuda J1 League (2016 明治安田生命J1リーグ) season was the 51st season of top-flight football in Japan and the 24th since the establishment of the J.League in 1992. This was second season of J1 League as renamed from J. ...

and 2015 J.League Cup. In 2019, following a three-year spell with Emirati club

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

, with whom he reached the

2018 FIFA Club World Cup Final The 2018 FIFA Club World Cup final was the final match of the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup, an international club association football tournament hosted by the United Arab Emirates. It was the 15th final of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised t ...

, Caio signed a four-year contract with Portuguese club Benfica. On 23 January 2020,

signed Caio Lucas from Benfica on loan for 18 months.

International career

Born in Brazil, Caio Lucas became a naturalized Emirati and was called up to the United Arab Emirates national team for the first time by manager

Paulo Bento Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento (; born 20 June 1969) is a Portuguese Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder with tackling ability and workrate ...

in March 2025 for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. He made his debut for the UAE in a 2–0 loss to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on 20 March.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Kashima Antlers *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* J.League Cup:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Al Ain *

UAE Pro-League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

: 2017–18 *

UAE President's Cup The UAE President's Cup, or simply the President Cup, is a association football, football tournament that takes place in United Arab Emirates, between Football team, clubs in the UAE Pro League and the UAE First Division League. The winner qualifi ...

: 2017–18 *

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

runner-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Sharjah *UAE President’s Cup: 2022–23 *

AFC Champions League Two The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC Ch ...

: 2024–25 Individual * J.League Rookie of the Year:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* FIFA Club World Cup Silver Ball:

Most Valuable Player: 2024–25

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caio Lucas 1994 births Living people Footballers from Araçatuba Emirati men's footballers United Arab Emirates men's international footballers Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal J1 League players Kashima Antlers players UAE Pro League players Al Ain FC players Sharjah FC players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Men's association football wingers Brazilian emigrants to the United Arab Emirates Naturalized citizens of the United Arab Emirates Naturalised association football players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen