Daiane Limeira Santos Silva (born 7 September 1997), commonly known as Daiane Limeira or simply Daiane, is a Brazilian 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 defender for American club

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

and the Brazil women's national team.

Club career

Daiane began her formal football training at

Clube de Regatas do Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

's soccer school in

Uberlândia Uberlândia () is a city and municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest city in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the si ...

. At 16 years old she had a successful trial with Associação Desportiva Centro Olímpico, but was unable to raise enough funds to relocate to

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 ...

and take up her place. Instead she tried out with Kindermann's under-17 team, where she impressed enough to be brought straight into the adult first team. During 2014 Daiane played

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

for Associação Desportiva 3R's under-17 team and for Joinville at the Joguinhos Abertos de Santa Catarina (). In 2015 she played football for both XV de Piracicaba and Tiradentes, before spending 2016 with Rio Preto. At XV de Piracicaba she was switched from playing on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

to central defence. She proved a revelation in her new position and was soon attracting notice from

scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

. In her season at Rio Preto the team won the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

and were runners-up in the Campeonato Brasileiro. She agreed a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

to Norwegian

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

club

Avaldsnes Avaldsnes is a village in Karmøy municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located on the northeastern part of the island of Karmøy (island), Karmøy, along the Karmsundet strait, just south of the town of Haugesund (town), Hauge ...

for their

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

season, which culminated in them winning the

Norwegian Women's Cup The Norwegian Women's Cup () is a single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Norwegian women's association football, football. It has been organised annually since 1978. The final is usually played on a Saturday, the day before the ...

for the first time. In August 2018,

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

of the

Division 1 Féminine Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

signed Daiane to a three-year contract. In August 2019, Daiane joined CD Tacón in the Primera División. Tacón became

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in 2020–21, but Daiane's career was interrupted by three knee surgeries. She joined Madrid CFF for 2021–22. In June 2022 she returned to Brazilian football with

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

. On 13 December 2024, Portland Thorns FC announced the signing of Daiane to a two-year contract, paying an undisclosed transfer fee to Flamengo.

International career

Daiane was called up in the Brazil u20 selection for its debut in August 2015. She played well at the

2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 8th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international Women's association football, women's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national te ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, being named

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

in Brazil's 1–1 draw with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In January 2018, national team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Vadão included Daiane in her debut in the

Brazil women's national football team The Brazil women's national football team ( Portuguese: ''Seleção Brasileira Feminina de futebol'') represents Brazil in international women's football and is run by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It has participated in all nine ...

. She made her international debut on 13 March 2018 for the

2018 Copa América Femenina The 2018 Copa América Femenina was the eighth edition of the CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina (also referred to as the ''Copa América Femenina''), the quadrennial international football competition for women's national teams in South America af ...

defeating

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, 7–0. . Brazil remained undefeated and won the tournament, securing qualification for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

in France. Daiane retained her place in the squad for the

2018 Tournament of Nations The 2018 Tournament of Nations was the second Tournament of Nations, an international women's football tournament, consisting of a series of friendly games. It was held in the United States, from July 26 to August 2, 2018, and featured the sam ...

in July and August 2018. Daiane was not included in Brazil's initial squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, but was a late call-up when

Érika The given name Erika is a female name with multiple meanings of Old Norse and Japanese language, Japanese origin. Erika and the variants Erica, Ericka, or Ereka are feminine forms of Eric, derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' ...

withdrew with a calf injury.

Personal life

Daiane is from a large family, variously reported as being among 18 or 23

siblings A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the other person. A male sibling is a brother, and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised ...

. When she turned

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

she began sending money to her family in Uberlândia, explaining that her priority was helping her parents to buy their own house.

References

External links

*
Profile
at

N3 Sports agency profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limeira, Daiane 1997 births Living people Brazilian women's footballers Brazil women's international footballers Footballers from Londrina Women's association football forwards Paris Saint-Germain FC (women) players Brazilian expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Première Ligue players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Toppserien players Avaldsnes IL players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Real Madrid Femenino players Liga F players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Sociedade Esportiva Kindermann players Madrid CFF players Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (women) players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States National Women's Soccer League players Portland Thorns FC players 21st-century Brazilian sportswomen