Erika Cristiano dos Santos, or just commonly known as Erika, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Corinthians and the Brazilian women’s national team. Erika Cristiano was part of Brazil’s silver medal-winning team at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and also played at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the London 2012 Olympics, the Rio 2016 Olympics, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
At the club level, Erika Cristiano played for Santos, Centro Olimpico, Paris Saint-Germain, and her present team Corinthians. She is named the IFFHS CONMEBOL Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020.
Erika Cristiano dos Santos was born on February 4, 1988, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is playing as a midfielder, defender, or forward, fitting perfectly in any position. Erika Cristiano started playing football at six years old, being the first female pupil at Marcelinho Carioca’s football school. Later she trained with the team Associacao Sabesp.
In 2003–2004, Erika Cristiano played for Clube Atletico Juventus, where came to the attention of national youth team selectors and leading women’s club Santos.
In 2005, she signed with Santos, playing for the team for three seasons and winning the Campeonato Paulista in 2007 and the 2008 Copa do Brasil.
In 2019, Erika Cristiano was picked for the American Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) team FC Gold Pride. She played for the football club for only 7 matches and was made a free agent at the season’s close.
Thus, Erika Cristiano returned to Santos and went part of the club’s 2009 Copa Libertadores Femenina-winning team in November 2009, scoring twice in the 9–0 final win over UAA. The following month Santos retained the Copa do Brasil. In 2010, she played for Foz Cataratas, before returning to Santos again in 2011.
However, the board of directors of the team of Santos scrapped the women’s section, to save money. Thus, Erika Cristiano moved to Centro Olimpico in 2012. However, she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury which kept her out of football for around ten months. Thus, she played only 11 games for the team and scored one goal.
In 2015, Erika Cristiano signed with Paris Saint-Germain. She played for the team for two seasons, before returning to Brazil for injury treatment. In 2017, she signed for one more year with Paris Saint-Germain, playing a full season with 20 matches, winning Coupe de France Feminine.
In 2018, she signed with Corinthians where is still playing.
At the international level, Erika Cristiano played for Brazil at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship. She also featured at the 2006 edition of the event, which had changed to under-20 from under-19, as Brazil came third. Still eligible in 2008, Erika Cristiano scored two goals in Brazil’s run to the quarter-finals and was named in the tournament all-star team. She had been the joint top goal scorer with seven goals at the 2008 South American Under-20 Women’s Football Championship.
In November 2006, Erika Cristiano made her senior international debut for Brazil at the South American Women’s Football Championship. She was part of Brazil’s silver medal-winning team at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and also played at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the London 2012 Olympics, the Rio 2016 Olympics, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Erika Cristiano photos
