Francisca Ramos Ribeiro Nazareth Sousa (born 17 November 2002), commonly known as Kika or Kika Nazareth, is a Portuguese 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 forward or an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Liga F The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as the Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of Sports league, league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent ...

club

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and the Portugal national team.

Club career

Benfica

Nazareth made her senior debut for Benfica at the age of 16 and signed her first professional contract with the club on 7 October 2020, at the age of 17. On the 2023–24 season, Nazareth was part of the historical Benfica team that won all four domestic competitions: the Supertaça de Portugal (Portuguese Supercup, third in the club's history), the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

(Portuguese League Cup, fourth in the club's history), the Campeonato Nacional (Portuguese League, fourth in the club's history), and the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

(Portuguese National Cup, second in the club's history). This was the first time a women's team in Portugal managed this feat, and it is yet to be replicated. Nazareth was forced to miss two months of play after sustaining an injury against Valadares Gaia in early January 2024. She returned in March and quickly took back her spot in the starting lineup. Across all competitions (including the Champions League), Nazareth played 37 matches, scoring 25 goals and assisting 8.

Barcelona

On 4 July 2024, Nazareth completed a move to Spanish giants

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

for €500,000, a record fee for the women's football scene in Portugal. She made her official debut in a 3–0 win against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

in early September, and scored her first official goal in a 4–1 win over Levante in late October. Nazareth secured her first piece of silverware with Barcelona on 26 January 2025, when the ''culers'' defeated their eternal rivals

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 ...

(5–0) to claim their 5th Spanish Supercup. On the second leg of the Copa de la Reina semi-final against

, Nazareth suffered a serious ankle injury, forcing her to be subbed off at half-time. This injury would mark the end of her club football season, and brought her participation in the European Championship into question. From the sidelines, however, Nazareth saw Barcelona win a record sixth consecutive Liga F (Primera División) (10th overall) and second consecutive Copa de la Reina (5th in six years, 11th overall), adding two more medals to her personal cabinet.

International career

Nazareth made her debut for the Portugal national team on 4 March 2020, coming on as a substitute for Carolina Mendes against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the 2020 Algarve Cup. She scored her first goals for the Portugal national team on 22 June 2022 in a friendly match against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, scoring two goals in the first half in a 4-0 win for Portugal. On 30 May 2023, she was included in the 23-player squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nazareth goal.''

Honours

Benfica * Campeonato Nacional Feminino: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 * Campeonato Nacional II Divisão Feminino: 2018–19 *

: 2023–24 *

: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2022–23, 2023–24 * Supertaça de Portugal: 2022, 2023 Barcelona * Primera División: 2024–25 * Copa de la Reina: 2024–25 * Supercopa de España Femenina:

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Individual * Cosme Damião Awards – Women's Revelation of the Year: 2022 * Cosme Damião Awards – Women's Footballer of the Year: 2023, 2024 * Campeonato Nacional Feminino Player of the Year: 2023–24 * Campeonato Nacional Feminino Player of the Month: September/October 2023 * Campeonato Nacional Feminino Golden Boot: 2023–24 * Mundo Deportivo Revelation Player award: 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nazareth, Francisca 2002 births Living people Women's association football forwards Portuguese women's footballers Portugal women's international footballers Footballers from Lisbon FC Barcelona Femení players S.L. Benfica (women) footballers Campeonato Nacional Feminino players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Portuguese sportswomen