Beyond Poland: Four Brazilian talents worth keeping an eye on

Brazil can look back on the 2026 FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in Poland as a successful tournament. As Canarinhas made it all the way to the quarter-finals, where their journey was eventually ended by Spain after a narrow 1:0 defeat. 

Before that, the South American champions had impressed in the group stage and successfully navigated their first knockout challenge, confirming that Brazil once again belongs among the strongest nations in youth women’s football.

Yet the tournament was about more than the final result. Brazil arrived in Poland with a squad containing several players who have the potential to become important figures at senior level in the years ahead. Some are already gaining experience with the senior national team, while others are only taking their first steps in professional football, but the championship offered another indication of just how much talent is coming through the Brazilian system.

With that in mind, we have selected four players whose development will be particularly interesting to follow beyond this World Cup. Rather than simply highlighting Brazil’s best performers in Poland, the list takes a longer-term perspective, focusing on players whose club careers, youth international records and overall potential suggest that their names could become much more familiar in the near future.

Kaylane (midfielder, Flamengo)

Kaylane began her football career at the age of seven at a local football academy Estrela Primavera, which had been founded by her father. When it became clear that her talent exceeded the capabilities of the ‘family business’, she and her parents decided she should move to Boca Juniors and later to Fluminense. However, supporting Kaylane’s career proved to be quite difficult for the family, as they came from a modest background, and her parents had to grit their teeth and make huge sacrifices so that their daughter could continue in this sport: They often borrowed money for travel tickets so they could set off at five in the morning for a match in which Kaylane often played for just a few minutes. But as time has shown, it all paid off in the end. 

The attacking midfielder joined Flamengo’s academy in 2022 and made her senior debut at just 14 the following year. She continued to shine at youth level, winning several domestic trophies, including the Brazilian U20 Championship and two editions of the Copinha, Brazil’s prestigious youth competition. By 2026, she had established herself in the first-team setup and extended her Flamengo contract until 2028. 

Kaylane has also progressed rapidly through Brazil’s national teams. She helped the country win the South American U17 and U20 titles and featured at two U17 World Cups, scoring twice at Morocco 2025. In June 2026, still only 17, she made her senior Brazil debut against the United States, before heading to her first U20 World Cup later that year. 

Although Kaylane still hopes to enjoy many more footballing successes, she has already achieved her most important goal: “I can help my family buy the things we need at home, such as clothes and other items. I was really happy when I was able to help my dad buy a car,” says the young star, who is delighted that she can now repay her parents for everything they did for her back when she was just a little footballer with a big dream.

Clarinha (forward, Benfica)

Clarinha’s path to the Brazilian national team is unique because she could very easily have ended up never wearing the As Canarinhas jersey. Since the age of four, this dual-nationality player has lived in Portugal, where she began her football training at Valadares Gaia before moving to Benfica at the age of thirteen. 

She excelled so much in the youth categories that she became the youngest player in the country’s history to sign a professional contract. She got her first taste of first-team action as early as the 2022/23 season in the Portuguese domestic cup. She has now already won several Portuguese titles and made her Champions League debut: “Benfica was one of the main factors that helped me get to where I am today, in the national team. Perhaps I missed out on a large part of my life because of it, but it was for a good cause. I missed out on my teenage years, I missed out on friends, I missed out on time spent with my family, but I decided to sacrifice a bit of that to get to where I am today, which was very important to me,” says Clarinha, describing her journey with the Lisbon club.

However, Clarinha never turned her back on her homeland, and when the time came for her to decide which jersey she wanted to wear on the international stage, her choice fell unequivocally on Brazil. It seems it was worth it. In the youth categories, the young striker is tearing up the pitch like a hurricane, so it’s no wonder she’s also earned a call-up to the senior national team’s training camp.  

Clarinha’s greatest source of support and motivation is her family: her parents, sister, grandparents, but above all her godfather Andre. Although he has been in a wheelchair for almost thirty years following a diving accident, he continues to support his goddaughter unwaveringly. During the championships in Poland, he didn’t even hesitate to make the long and arduous journey from Brazil to Bielsko-Biała to support Clarinha, and in her honour he even had a tattoo done on his arm celebrating her participation in the tournament: 

“She saw the tattoo and asked, 'Did it hurt, godfather?' I admitted that it did [laughs],” he said. “But I wanted to pay this tribute to her. It's a unique experience, a feeling that can't be explained. It's beautiful. She is reaping the rewards of the seeds she's sown as an honest young woman who fights for her goals and dreams,” Andre described the touching moment.

Evelin Bonifácio (forward, Santos)

Although Evelin had been playing football with her brothers in the garden since she was a small child, it was ultimately futsal that paved her way into professional club football. This sport enabled the talented Brazilian to make such a name for herself that, in 2023, she was offered a place at the youth academy of the famous Santos, with whom she has subsequently spent her entire club career to date. She made her debut for the first team of the famous Brazilian club in September 2025 against São Paulo and scored her first senior goal just two months later. Although she played only a few matches in the Paulistão, her performances earned her the competition’s ‘Rising Star’ award. Santos subsequently secured the services of one of its greatest young talents with a new contract running until the end of 2027. 

Evelin’s rise through the ranks of the Brazilian national team was even faster. At the 2025 South American U17 Women’s Championship, she became Brazil’s top scorer with six goals and subsequently helped her country to a historic fourth-place finish at the 2025 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, where she added a further two goals. Her performances also caught the eye of the Brazil senior team manager, who first invited her to a national team training camp and, in April 2026, gave her her debut against Zambia at the age of just 18. In the meantime, Evelin also moved up to the Brazilian Under-20s, with whom she won the South American Championship and subsequently proved to be one of Brazil’s standout players at the U-20 World Cup in Poland.

Although Evelin is not yet very well known to European fans, experts in South American women’s football have no hesitation in counting her amongst the greatest prospects in the sport there. Her potential is further evidenced by her recently signed sponsorship deal with the giant Nike, a company that does not offer such partnerships to just anyone.

Sofia Couto (defender, Flamengo)

This defender, who has yet to be widely recognised by the football media, only began to devote herself fully to football relatively recently: at the age of fourteen, after many seasons spent on futsal pitches. However, when she joined Flamengo’s youth team as a teenager, it quickly became clear that she was an exceptional talent. Her vision, sharpness and technique have placed her amongst the most promising prospects in Brazilian youth football, so it is no surprise that she has recently begun to make her mark in the first team as well.

Nevertheless, the transition from futsal to football turned out to be quite challenging. Sofia herself admits that she originally wanted to play in an attacking role, but due to her physical attributes and a general shortage of defenders, she eventually moved into defence. There, however, she established herself very well, and so time has shown that it was the right decision, one which may well have ultimately earned her call-ups to the youth national team.

Sofia is now using her growing popularity to raise awareness of the struggles associated with women’s football in Brazil, such as a lack of funding and low visibility: “We know the road ahead isn’t easy, but we’re fighting to change this reality. I want to be an inspiration to other girls who dream of playing football,” says Couto, who is joining the growing number of female footballers committed to building a better future not only for themselves but also for the generations that will follow.