Kerolin was raised by her mother and was estranged from her father. The family lived in Bauru, then moved to Campinas, where they lodged on a farm as they could not afford to pay rent. When she was 12 years old she was hospitalised with osteomyelitis and cellulitis in her leg and advised to stop playing contact sport.[4]
Club career
Early career
Kerolin was among several promising young footballers to emerge from the youth system of Valinhos Futebol Clube, a women's team run by the local authority's sports and leisure department and coached by Ana Lúcia Gonçalves.[5] Valinhos agreed a collaboration with Guarani FC in January 2016, to enter the 2016 Campeonato Paulista de Futebol Feminino as Guarani/Valinhos.[6]
When Associação Atlética Ponte Preta decided to form a women's section in 2017, they took over the Valinhos club, with 17-year-old Kerolin among the squad they inherited.[7] She was voted the best player of the 2017 Campeonato Paulista after scoring 10 goals in 21 games for semi-finalists Ponte Preta.[8]
In 2018 she scored 14 goals in 35 games for Ponte Preta and was named Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino "Revelação" (transl. Revelation) at the end of season awards. It was reported that Kerolin's consistently good performances for Ponte Preta and the youth national teams made her a transfer target for other Brazilian clubs, as well as for professional clubs in France and China.[10]
The combined Corinthians/Audax team which Kerolin had helped to win the 2017 Copa Libertadores split when Corinthians withdrew from that partnership and set up their own women's team. This left Audax with a slot at the 2018 Copa Libertadores Femenina but with no team. A deal was made for Valinhos (who had been playing as Ponte Preta in domestic competitions) to represent Audax at the Copa Libertadores.[11] Kerolin scored in a 4–0 win over Peñarol, but Audax were eliminated at the group stage.
Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras urgently required a women's team in December 2018, as they faced being banned from the lucrative men's Copa Libertadores under CONMEBOL rules which required all participants to run women's teams. A partnership agreement saw Palmeiras agree to fund the salaries of the Valinhos players and staff, who would use the Palmeiras name but continue to play and train in Valinhos.[12]
In January 2019 Kerolin agreed the transfer to Palmeiras, signing a one-year contract and joining up again with her previous coach Ana Lúcia Gonçalves.[13] The following month it was announced that Kerolin had failed a doping test taken after playing for Audax in a match at the 2018 Copa Libertadores Femenina.[14] Kerolin's sample revealed traces of GW1516. She remained provisionally suspended by CONMEBOL in July 2019, when Palmeiras's coach Gonçalves was sacked on suspicion of involvement in doping cases affecting the clubs she had worked at and inappropriately acting as a sports agent for the players in her charge.[15]
Madrid
In April 2021, having served her ban, Kerolin transferred to Madrid CFF. She joined several other Brazilian players at the Spanish Primera División club, and thanked God for the opportunity to restart her football career.[16]
North Carolina Courage
On 10 January 2022, Kerolin signed a three-year deal with the North Carolina Courage.[17] She made her club debut as a substitute in the opening Challenge Cup game against NJ/NY Gotham FC on 3 April.[18] She scored her first goal for the Courage in the Challenge Cup final, opening in a 2–1 win over the Washington Spirit and being named the most valuable player of the match.[19] She started 13 games in the 2022 regular season and recorded six goals and four assists.[20] At the end of the season, she was named to the NWSL Best XI second team.[21]
On 10 June 2023, Kerolin scored her first NWSL hat-trick in a 5–0 win over the Chicago Red Stars.[22] She contributed to the Courage's defense of the Challenge Cup, scoring in the final against Racing Louisville.[23] Her tally of 10 regular-season goals was second only to Golden Boot winner Sophia Smith, leading the Courage to finish the regular season third in the standings.[24] However, she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear days before the playoffs, and the Courage lost to eventual champions NJ/NY Gotham FC in the opening round.[25] After the season, Kerolin was given the NWSL Most Valuable Player award, the first South American player to do so.[26]
After breaking into the senior national team, she was praised by veteran teammate Formiga: "Kerolin has a huge future. She's got so much talent and she doesn't have fear. If she keeps her feet on the ground, she can go as far as she wants. It's up to her."[32]
Kerolin was not eligible to play at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup because she was provisionally suspended from football and still awaiting the final judgement from CONMEBOL in respect of her failed doping tests.[4]
On 6 January 2021, Kerolin's suspension ended and she was called into a national team training camp for evaluation by Brazil's new coach Pia Sundhage.[33] Sundhage said: "I heard a lot of good things about her [Kerolin]. She is an excellent player. Yes, she has been out of action for two years, but we will see how she will do."[34]