Former Ivo10 Brazil player, midfielder Marco Antonio signs for a season with Leixões SC, from Portugal

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Midfielder Marco Antonio is the new reinforcement of the U-19 and U-23 teams of Leixões, from Portugal. He arrives in Europe after good matches for Mixto Esporte Clube in Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior 2022. Revealed in southern Brazil in the projects Associação Esportiva Recreativa e Cultural Erno Dahmer – Juventus de Teutônia and Ivo10 Brazil Football Academy, the player with a career managed by CSR Sports starts its first experience abroad. He signed with the team from Matosinhos on January 31st and on Saturday (12th) he debuted with the red and white mantle.

The negotiation was led by football businessman César Soler in partnership with Sidinei Spagnol, Brazilian owner of the restaurant chain Gaúcho's, main sponsor of Leixões SC-POR. Portuguese agent David Gonçalves also participated in the transfer. He arrives on loan from Mixto-MT with a contract valid until mid-2023.

Leixões SC-POR new reinforcement spoke about his arrival: "I am happy and motivated by this great challenge and this great opportunity that I am having in my life. I hope that on the field I can respond in the best way to help the team to fulfill the goals of the season", said Marco Antonio.

The midfielder's debut for Leixões SC-POR took place on Saturday afternoon (12), in a 2-1 victory, away from home, over UD Oliveirense-POR. On his first call-up, the CSR Sports athlete had the opportunity to enter the field and play for about 28 minutes. He came on for Diogo Madaleno in the 23rd minute of the final stage. The match was valid for the first round of the 2nd phase of the Campeonato Nacional - 1st Division U-19 2021-2022.

Marco Antonio is the second athlete revealed in the Ivo10 Brazil Football Academy project to be transferred to Europe. In 2021, midfielder Mateus also left the Teutônia (RS) team to play in Portugal. He signed a one-year contract with Boavista-POR and has since played in the 2021-2022 Under-17 national championship.

Founded by football player Ivo - who ended last season helping Henan Songshan Longmen, from China, to remain in the country's top division -, by also athlete William Gomes - who plays for Ching Fung, from Macau - and by businessman César Soler, Ivo10 Brazil started in May 2020 in Macau as a football school for about 250 students aged 3 to 16 years and also with U-10, U-12, U-14/16 and U-19 teams.

A year later, in May 2021, Ivo10 Brazil started with activities in Teutônia, Rio Grande do Sul, with U-15 and U-17 teams. In 2022, another big step in the growth of the project with the Copinha dispute in partnership with Mixto Esporte Clube, from Cuiabá (MT). Marco Antonio, trained at AERC Juventus and later Ivo10, was one of the 30 registered to participate in the most important youth competition in Brazil.

The midfielder's performance in the three games played by the team of the Mixto/Ivo10 Brazil/CSR Sports partnership in the first phase of the Copa São Paulo 2022 earned him the invitation to play at Leixões.

Marco Antonio emerged for football at AERC Juventus, from Teutônia (RS). After standing out for the association, he had an opportunity in the Juventude-RS base categories. Some time later, with Ivo10 Brazil already operating in the city with Sub-15 and Sub-17 teams, the midfielder had a few more opportunities to show his football and ended up drawing the attention of Portuguesa-SP, where he transferred in 2021 to play the final stretch of the Campeonato Paulista Sub-20. As CSR Sports agreed the partnership between Mixto-MT and Ivo10 for the Copinha 2022 dispute, shirt 10 was called to return and play for the Cuiabano alvinegro in the competition.