The girls from Lages, in the interior of Santa Catarina, have had memorable accomplishments, having won the Campeonato Catarinense (four titles), the ‘Jogos Abertos’ (three more wins), the Brazil Cup and the Supercup, being two-time champions in these tournaments.
With such achievements, CampoBet teamed up with Leoas da Serra to form a successful duo and break even more the boundaries of the sport.
Mauricio Neves de Jesus, creator of the project and sports director of Leoas da Serra, commented on the partnership and how the support of CampoBet will help in the expansion of the club.
“It's an acknowledgment that women's futsal has a lot of value. It is a testament to our visibility and renews our strength to continue writing our history,” he said.
Valorization of futsal and of ‘Leoas’ in the Brazilian scenario
Mauricio detailed how Leoas da Serra emerged, which became a reference in Brazilian futsal in a few years, thanks to a work that strengthened the athletes, providing support for their development.
“Leoas da Serra were created in 2015 to practice high-performance futsal and for women's futsal social schools. Perhaps our trajectory is unprecedented, because in the first year we won the municipal title, in the second a state title, in the third a national title, in the fourth year we won the Libertadores and the following year the World Cup. Something much higher than expected, but that was fundamental for the project to continue and conquer more spaces for them and for the club,” said the director, who highlighted an important opening of the masculine world of the round ball: the exhibition of the ‘Leoas’ and of women's futsal on national television.
"In addition to the achievements, we helped the sport to have its games shown on national TV, which increased visibility and sponsorship possibilities," added Mauricio Neves de Jesus, who gave all the merit of the venture to the girls' willpower, true lionesses.
“I come from men's football, the ‘Leoas’ are my first experience in women's football. I basically did the usual work, so the credit for having gone this far is all theirs. It was much more difficult to structure the female project because there is still a lot of prejudice,” he concluded.
The project has existed in Lages since 2015, in the interior of Santa Catarina, and has grassroots and high-performance teams. The athletes train twice a day, alternating conditioning with ball training.
Most of the players are university students, with a scholarship provided by Uniplac. “Those who are not university graduates have already graduated, which is a separate victory for the association, as education lasts forever,” concluded Mauricio Neves de Jesus.
Source: GMB
