Bruna Benites Soares

Bruna Benites Soares is a professional soccer player (defender) from Brazil and plays for Sport Club Internacional, a top-tier women's professional team in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In November 2016 she signed with the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League. She has also played for Fox Cataratas and Sao Jose in Brazil. She played for one season in 2016 with Avaldsnes.

In 2012, she competed in the Summer Olympics on Brazil’s football squad and was captain of her team. The team placed fourth in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. She competed in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics with Brazil and her team advanced to the quarterfinals and placed sixth overall.

In 2014, Benites won the CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina. An injury in May 2015 caused Bruna to miss the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She suffered a knee injury in May 2017, but returned to play in July 2017.

Bruna was born on October 16, 1985, in Cuiaba, Brazil. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having been baptized with her family at age 15. She has a degree in physiotherapy from Universidade Catolica Dom Bosco.

Becoming a professional soccer player was never her dream or intention, she admitted. “I always prioritized education.” She knew being a talented athlete could help pay for an education, and an education could help improve her family’s quality of life. . . . Not long after she graduated and stopped playing soccer to work, her mother encouraged her to take an opportunity to play in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. That experience launched her professional career.[1]

She was one of the keynote speakers at RootsTech Connect in 2021.