Kerolin joined Madrid CFF in April 2021 with a career to rebuild.
She was 21, had not played a competitive match for two years and had never played outside Brazil. Her first experience in Europe was not the natural next step in a rising career. It was an opportunity to revive one that had stalled.
It was not the first time football had appeared to be slipping away from her.
At the age of eleven, she suffered a bone infection in her right leg. She needed surgery, and doctors could not guarantee that she would be able to play a contact sport again. Kerolin began rebuilding her strength by kicking a ball around with friends and eventually made her way through Valinhos, Ponte Preta and Audax.
In 2018, she was named the breakthrough player of the Brazilian championship and began earning call-ups to the senior national team.
Her progress was interrupted soon afterwards. A test conducted during the 2018 Copa Libertadores returned a positive result for GW1516, and CONMEBOL handed her a two-year suspension that expired in January 2021.
Three months later, Madrid CFF came calling.
Kerolin made 24 league appearances and scored five goals during her time in Spain. They were not yet the numbers that would make her a star, but they were enough to show that she could compete again and earn a move to the United States.
North Carolina Courage signed her in January 2022.
She won the Challenge Cup in her first season, scoring six goals and providing four assists during the regular season. In her second, she became one of the competition’s most dangerous attacking players.
Kerolin scored ten goals in 19 regular-season appearances, lifted the Challenge Cup again and was named NWSL MVP. No South American had previously won the award.
The award came while Kerolin was already facing another recovery.
An ACL injury suffered in the final match of the regular season brought her 2023 campaign to an end. She returned in time to represent Brazil at the Paris Olympics and scored against Spain in the semi-finals. Brazil won 4-2 and went on to claim the silver medal.
Manchester City signed her in January 2025 on a contract running until 2028.
After an initial period of adaptation, her first full season confirmed that she could have the same impact in European football. Kerolin scored ten goals and provided five assists in 19 appearances during the 2025/26 campaign.
She scored a hat-trick against Chelsea, was named the WSL’s Player of the Month for February and helped City complete a WSL and FA Cup double.
Kerolin can start on the right wing, move inside or operate closer to goal. Her game combines acceleration, dribbling and a constant ability to break games open in one-on-one situations.
Five years after joining Madrid CFF, her name is once again being linked with a return to Spain.
Brazilian outlet ge reports that Barcelona and Manchester City have reached a verbal agreement over her transfer and begun exchanging documents. Neither club has yet announced the deal.
The first time Spain saw Kerolin, she arrived looking for an opportunity to prove that she could still play.
If she returns, nobody will need convincing.