Lucas Covolan Cavagnari (born 6 June 1991) 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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for club Maidstone United. A Brazil under-20 international, he began his career with Trieste, before turning professional at

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

. He later had spells with

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

, Esportivo, Toledo and Rio Branco, winning a

Campeonato Acreano Campeonato Acreano (sometimes referred as Campeonato Acriano) is the football league of the State of Acre, Brazil. It is organized by the Acre State Football Federation. Format 2020 First Division First stage *The 10 clubs are divided into two gr ...

title with Rio Branco in 2014. He then spent two years in Spain with Atlético Rafal and

Alaró Alaró () is a small municipality in the district of Raiguer on Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands, Spain, Europe. History Alarò's origin dates back to the Islamic period. The documented history begins in the thirteenth century, during the re ...

, before joining English club

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was origin ...

in 2016. He had a

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spell with

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...

and spent two seasons with

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and H ...

, before earning a move to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in May 2019. He scored a goal in the

2021 National League play-off final The 2021 National League play-off final, known as the Vanarama National League Promotion Final for sponsorship reasons, was an association football match played on 20 June 2021 at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol between Torquay United and Har ...

, which Torquay lost, before signing with

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

club

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

in June 2021. He helped the club to win

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out of

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via the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

. He returned to the National League on a season-long loan with Chesterfield in July 2022. He signed with Maidstone United in August 2023.

Early and personal life

Born in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area c ...

, Covolan grew up supporting hometown club

. He has an Italian passport.

Club career

Brazil

Covolan spent his early career in his native Brazil with Trieste. He was

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

ed by

and signed a professional

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at Vasco at the age of 17 after impressing on a two-week trial. He returned from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

after three years to sign with boyhood club Atlético Paranaense. He later recalled that Atlético had eight goalkeepers on their books and that he realised halfway into his three-year contract that he would never play a first-team game for the club. He tried to gain experience of senior football by leaving on

, but was injured in a warm-up exercise and sidelined for four months. Covolan went on to feature in four match day squads as an unused substitute for Esportivo Bento Gonçalves, before joining Toledo in December 2013 and then Rio Branco in March 2014. He helped Rio Branco to win the

(

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

state league) in

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following a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

victory over

Atlético Acreano Atlético Acreano is a Brazilian professional football club based in Rio Branco, Acre founded on 27 April 1952. It competes in the Campeonato Acreano, the top flight of the Acre state football league. Atlético is the top ranked team from ...

, but was one of the three players released by the club on 7 May 2014.

Spain

Covolan moved to Spain later in 2014 and joined

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

team Atlético Rafal. He switched to fellow

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n side

the next year, making 35 appearances. He spent three months on trial at

, but was deemed to be too old at the age of 24.

English non-League

In 2016 he was approached by an agent to play for English

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

club

, who were managed by the Argentinian

Pablo Asensio Pablo Asensio (born 3 January 1973) is an Argentinian former professional footballer, most recently first team manager at National League South side Whitehawk. Playing career Asensio was an attacking midfield player who played in Argentina, ...

. He made 23 league appearances for Whitehawk, and also spent a month on loan with

, before signing for

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Premier Division side

after a pre-season trial. He was named Supporters Player of the Year by Worthing's "Away Boys Fanatics" in the 2017–18 season and had trials at Aldershot Town,

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

and

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. He

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his arm during a win at Moneyfields in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

on 6 October 2018.

Torquay United

He moved to

in May 2019 after impressing

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on trial. He competed with Shaun MacDonald for a place in the first-team, but had to wait for his opportunity after picking up an injury in pre-season, making his first-team debut in a 2–1 win at Dover Athletic on 17 August. Covolan would play 25 league games in the 2019–20 season, with MacDonald playing the remaining 11 league matches in a season that was cut short due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. He featured 26 times in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

campaign, whilst MacDonald played 19 league games, as Torquay qualified for the play-offs with a second-place finish. On 20 June 2021, he scored an injury-time equaliser against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartl ...

in the National League play-off final, which Torquay eventually lost on penalties, despite two saves from Covolan. His goal earned him comparisons to fellow compatriot

Alisson Álisson Ramsés Becker (born 2 October 1992), known as Alisson Becker or simply Alisson, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Liverpool and the Brazil national team. He is widely regarded to ...

, a goalkeeper who had scored a headed goal for

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

earlier in the year; the pair had actually played against each other some years earlier in a tournament for under-23 players when Atlético Paranaense came up against

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

Port Vale

On 23 June 2021, he signed a two-year contract with

side

; manager

Darrell Clarke Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player who played in the English Football League. He is the manager of club Port Vale. A box-to-box midfielder, Clarke began his career ...

said that "he is hungry to prove he’s a league-level player and we feel he has all the attributes to succeed at this level". Having already been shown a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or dia ...

in a pre-season friendly, he was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

on his

debut after rushing off his goal-line to trip Nicke Kabamba during a 1–0 defeat at Northampton Town on 7 August. He returned after a serving a one match suspension and kept four clean sheets in his next seven games, saying that "you learn from every mistake and that is what makes you stronger". He was criticised by Clarke for an error during a win over Barrow on 16 October, but responded by saving a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalt ...

in a 1–1 draw with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and y ...

three days later. On 15 January 2022, he was sent off for kicking out at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

Harry McKirdy Harry McKirdy (born 29 March 1997) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Hibernian F.C., Hibernian. McKirdy is a product of the Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa ...

after the pair jumped for a high ball moments before

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

during what would finish as a 3–1 home defeat; a furious Clarke said after the match that "he has got to learn from that otherwise he won’t be staying at the club for very long". Covolan, who was suspended for four games for the incident, was supported by

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Tom Conlon Tom George Sawyer Conlon (born 3 February 1996) is an English footballer who plays for club Oldham Athletic. He has represented the England C team. He is a descendant of Football League players George Heppell and Albert Pearson. Conlon bega ...

, who said "he's one of us, he is a big part of the squad, the boys love him to bits". He was an unused substitute as Vale secured

out of the

with victory over

in the final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. He played 22 games in the 2021–22 season, keeping seven clean sheets.

David Flitcroft David John Flitcroft (born 14 January 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the director of football at club Port Vale. His older brother is the former Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City player Garry F ...

, the club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The spor ...

, confirmed that the player's contract would not be renewed beyond June 2023.

Chesterfield (loan)

On 5 July 2022, Covolan returned to the National League to join Chesterfield on a season-long loan deal. On 6 August, he made his debut for the Spireites in a 2–2 draw with Dorking Wanderers, receiving a red card after 28 minutes for an " off the ball incident". Manager

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He was also called "Cookie" by his friends on the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was raised in Hammersmith and atte ...

had stern words for Covolan after the match, saying that "it is something that Lucas will learn from quickly ndif he doesn’t learn quickly he won't be at the club, it is that simple". Covolan was returned to the starting eleven after

Ross Fitzsimons Ross Alan Richard Frank Fitzsimons (born 28 May 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for side Scunthorpe United. Playing career Early career Fitzsimons began his career at Crystal Palace. On 17 January 2013 ...

stood in during his suspension, and by September was linked with a permanent move to Chesterfield. However, after making eight further starts he was sidelined with an ankle injury, whilst during Covolan's absence Fitzsimons was praised for his good form. He was not named in the 2023 National League play-off final matchday squad for the defeat to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

Maidstone United

On 4 August 2023, with less than 24-hours until the start of the 2023–24 season, Covolan signed with newly-

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

National League South club Maidstone United.

International career

Covolan spent time with the Brazil under-20 national team, winning two

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in 2010.

Style of play

He has been described as an aggressive goalkeeper who helps the team defend with a high line, though has a tendency to be caught in possession.

Career statistics

Honours

Rio Branco *

Port Vale *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football L ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Covolan, Lucas 1991 births Living people Footballers from Curitiba Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's under-20 international footballers CR Vasco da Gama players Club Athletico Paranaense players Toledo Esporte Clube players Clube Esportivo Bento Gonçalves players Rio Branco Football Club players Whitehawk F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Worthing F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England National League (English football) players Isthmian League players English Football League players