Victor Bezerra (born February 5, 2000) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Club career

Youth and college

Bezerra attended

Jones College Prep High School William Jones College Preparatory High School (commonly known as Jones College Prep) is a public four-year selective-enrollment high school located in the Printer's Row neighborhood in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States. Jones is operat ...

, but did not play soccer for their team. He played club soccer with the Chicago Fire academy, where he was the number three scorer in the Central Region in the 2018–2019 season with 21 goals in 22 games. With Chicago Bezerra scored 58 official

USSDA The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league featured youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

and eight

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S ...

goals. Over the years, Bezerra was called to train and develop in multiple youth

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

camps. In 2019, Bezerra attended

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

to play

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

. In three seasons with the Hoosiers, Bezerra tallied 28 goals and 12 assists in 57 appearances for a total of 68 points. During his freshman year, Bezerra led the Hoosiers in points and goals with eight goals and three assists, helping the team win both the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

regular season and

Big Ten tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

titles. Bezerra scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

at the NCAA tournament game against

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, being the third player in program history to score a postseason hat trick and the first since 2012. As a sophomore, Bezerra was a MAC

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

runner-up, after winning both the Big Ten regular season, the Big Ten tournament titles and helping the Hoosiers to reach the Final of the NCAA National Championship. As a sophomore Bezerra was also United Soccer Coaches All-America First Team,

TopDrawerSoccer TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was la ...

Best XI First Team, United Soccer Coaches All-North Region First Team, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, All-Big Ten First Team, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Tournament (leading the conference in goals and points with 28 points, 12 goals and four assists in the season), Big Ten All-Tournament Team and elected as IU co-Male Athlete of the Year. In his junior season, Bezerra led the MAC

watch list, regarded by TopDrawerSoccer as the number one college soccer player in the country, dealt with injuries at the beginning of the season, led the Hoosiers again in number of goals with eight goals and five assists. Bezerra helped the team reach the Big Ten tournament final, finished the season as first in the Big Ten in game-winning goals and second in total goals scored, earning All-Big Ten Second Team honors. Bezerra scored the decisive goal in their first-round win over

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

in the NCAA tournament, helping IU reach the round of 16 as well as scored the first goal in the NCAA tournament game against the national runner-up

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Chicago Fire

On December 22, 2021, it was announced that Bezerra had signed a homegrown player contract with Chicago Fire ahead of their 2022 season. He made his professional debut for Chicago on April 19, 2022, appearing as a substitute during a

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

tie in regular time versus

Union Omaha Union Omaha Soccer Club is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Omaha, Nebraska. Nicknamed the Owls, the team made its debut in USL League One (USL1) in 2020. In the clubs first five seasons, the Owls finished in ...

. His league debut came on May 7, 2022, coming on as an 81st–minute substitute against

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won o ...

. In addition to the MLS Games and MLS Next Pro games in 2022, Bezerra also started and played the full game for the Chicago Fire in the friendly 1–1 draw and penalty shoot-out win vs

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

side

Club León Club León is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in León, Guanajuato, León, Guanajuato, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. The club was founded in 1944 ...

, where he missed a penalty in the shootout. Bezerra also featured for

Chicago Fire FC II Chicago Fire FC II is an American professional soccer team that is located in Bridgeview, Illinois. It is the reserve team of Chicago Fire FC and participates in MLS Next Pro. History On December 6, 2021, the Chicago Fire FC were named as one ...

during their inaugural

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

season in 2022. Bezerra was the team's leading scorer with eight goals and two assists, with direct impact in all eight team wins in games that Bezerra also started. Bezerra played 10 games for Chicago Fire II in 2023, dealt with injuries, scoring three goals and contributing an assist. Bezerra's contract extension option was declined by the Chicago Fire in November 2024. He played 5 games with the Fire, netting 0 goals, 0 assists, and one yellow card. He will be eligible for the 2024 MLS Re-Entry Draft.

Detroit City FC

On March 19, 2024, Chicago Fire and Detroit City FC announced that they had agreed to loan terms for the remainder of the 2024 season. Victor played 18 games, started 6 games and scored 3 goals while playing for Detroit.

Personal

Both of Bezerra's parents were born in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and he holds dual nationality.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bezerra, Victor 2000 births Living people American men's soccer players Men's association football forwards All-American college men's soccer players Chicago Fire FC players Homegrown Players (MLS) Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Soccer players from Chicago Chicago Fire FC II players American sportspeople of Brazilian descent 21st-century American sportsmen