Endrick hasn’t even reached the peak of his career yet, but he already has a resume that usually takes years to build. At 19 years old, the Real Madrid and Brazilian national team striker is seen as one of Brazil’s biggest bets for the 2026 World Cup.

Born on July 21, 2006, Endrick Felipe Moreira de Sousa started playing football at the age of 4, standing out in local schools due to his above-average ability for his age and ease in completing plays. Encouraged by his father, Douglas Ramos, who closely followed his evolution and helped publish videos of his son as a child, the striker quickly began to attract attention in the grassroots football scene, not only for his talent, but for his maturity on the field, something that would later become a hallmark of his career.

Passage through Brazilian clubs

Still in his childhood, Endrick underwent evaluations at different clubs in the country and quickly caught attention at the first opportunity. At the age of 8, he passed tests in São Paulo, beginning a sequence of comings and goings in training processes that lasted around three years. During this period, the family’s stay in Cotia, where São Paulo FC’s base is located, was discussed, but structural and financial conditions made the permanent move unfeasible at that time, which ended up interrupting the continuity of the relationship with the club.

The player also underwent evaluations at Corinthians, where he was approved, but the club did not move forward with the proposal to keep the family in São Paulo. Santos was also approached for testing, but there were no conditions to enable participation at that time.

Turn in trajectory

The turning point in the trajectory happened in 2016, following a video of the attacker published by his father on the internet, which caught the attention of professionals linked to Palmeiras’ youth teams. Following the repercussion of the images, Endrick was taken to the club for evaluation and, after two training sessions, he was approved to join the Alviverde base.

In 2017, at the age of 10, the striker moved with his family to São Paulo and officially joined Verdão’s youth teams, beginning a more structured stage of football training. From then on, his development gained an accelerated pace and he began to be treated as one of the club’s main promises of his generation.

Trajectory at Palmeiras

Between 2017 and 2022, Endrick dominated youth competitions, being constantly treated as a “jewel” of the alviverde club. With outstanding performances and a large volume of goals in the lower categories, especially in the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior, the striker quickly caught the attention of the club’s technical committee and was promoted to the main squad. He made his professional debut on October 6, 2022, at the age of 16, becoming one of the youngest players in Palmeiras’ history to play for the first team.

From then on, his rise in professional football was rapid and accompanied by great expectations. Still in his first games for the main squad, the athlete began to be used frequently in Palmeiras’ rotation and soon began to respond on the field, with goals and decisive appearances even in a period of adaptation to high-level football.

In 2022 and 2023, already integrated more definitively into the professional squad, the striker was part of the club’s important achievements, including the Brazilian Championship and the Brazilian Super Cup, as well as state titles that reinforced the team’s victorious moment.

Between his time in the youth categories and the professional squad, Endrick accumulated 12 titles for Palmeiras, including two Brazilian Championships (2022 and 2023), two Paulista Championships (2023 and 2024) and one Brazilian Super Cup (2023) in the main team, in addition to around seven achievements in training categories.

Arrival in the Brazilian National Team

The performance at Palmeiras and the rapid rise in Brazilian football meant that Endrick began to be watched more closely by the Brazilian team. While still a teenager, the striker was integrated into the main team cycle and, in 2023, he made his debut with the Seleção shirt, at the age of 17, beginning his career in international football.

The call-up marked a new level in the player’s career, as he began to interact with the main national teams even before completing his training at the club. Shortly afterwards, Endrick was called up again and established himself as part of the group of young athletes observed by the coaching staff for the 2026 World Cup cycle.

In 2024, the striker took another important step by scoring his first goal for the Brazilian team, in a friendly against England, at Wembley Stadium, one of the most symbolic stages in world football. The goal reinforced the international projection of the player and expanded expectations surrounding his future role on the team.

Still in 2024, Endrick was called up to compete in the Copa América, in the United States, strengthening its presence in official competitions for the main team and reinforcing its status as one of the country’s main offensive bets.

Passage through European football

In December 2022, Palmeiras sealed the sale of Endrick to Real Madrid CF for around 70 million euros. Due to issues related to international transfer legislation, the striker was only able to officially join the Spanish club after turning 18, in July 2024.

In Spain, Endrick joined Real Madrid’s main squad and began his adaptation process to European football. With gradual participation in the team, the striker was little used as a starter, but still managed to record important numbers, scoring seven goals in 37 matches, in addition to winning titles such as the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.

In December 2025, the striker was announced as a reinforcement for Olympique Lyonnais, on a six-month loan, in an operation valued at around 1 million euros. During his time in French football, Endrick managed to regain his rhythm and performed well, accumulating eight goals and seven assists in 21 matches this season.

With the end of his loan, the striker returned to Real Madrid, rejoining the Spanish club’s main squad and resuming his preparation for the European season. The return marks the beginning of a new stage in the player’s consolidation process in elite football, after a period in which he accumulated experience, minutes and physical evolution in different contexts of European football.

2026 World Cup and consolidation in the Brazilian team

The return to Real Madrid CF also marked the moment in which Endrick began to be treated definitively as one of the pieces of the Brazilian team towards the 2026 World Cup. Called up repeatedly since his debut in 2023, the striker established his presence in the group at a very young age, entering the radar as one of the main offensive bets of the new generation.

The Seleção’s technical committee began to highlight, in interviews throughout the pre-World Cup cycle, competitive maturity, offensive aggressiveness and decision-making capacity in short spaces as central characteristics of the player, attributes considered decisive for the game model adopted during the period of reformulation of the national team.

In the call-up process, Endrick also gained space due to his versatility in attack: he acts as a central reference, but can also act by attacking depth on the sides, exploiting speed and reading space in the last defensive line. This mobility is highlighted as one of the factors that keeps him constantly on the national team’s lists.

In interviews throughout 2024 and 2025, the Brazilian national team coach, Carlo Ancelotti, highlighted the striker’s potential and the early stage of development in comparison to the international level of demand, reinforcing that the player was part of a long-term project within the team’s cycle.

Player’s role in the team

On the field, Endrick is described as a attacker with short acceleration, strong presence in the area and quick finishing in just a few touches. Its main characteristic is the ability to decide plays in reduced spaces, with quick attacking movements and reading rebounds inside the area. It is precisely this skill, built even before the age of 20, that makes the player increasingly seen as one of the Brazilian team’s great hopes for winning the long-awaited hexa.

Brazil’s last world title was in 2002, and since then the team has sought to repeat the historic feat with new generations, who carry the weight of expectations and the reconstruction of Brazil’s protagonism on the international stage.