| Full Name | Cédric Ricardo Alves Soares |
| Date of Birth | August 31, 1991 |
| Nationality | German / Portuguese |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.72 m) |
| Role | Right Back |
| Family | Filipa Brandão (Spouse) |
Cedric Soares is a professional Portuguese footballer who currently plays for the English club Southampton and Portuguese national team. Born on 31st August 1991 in Germany, his family moved back to Portugal when he was two years old.
Soares plays as a right back and is known for his attacking instincts. Cedric Soares was part of the Portuguese team which won the UEFA European Championship in 2016.
Early days
Footballing days started early for the prodigy, who joined Sporting Clube de Portugal’s youth camp in 1999 at the age of eight. Cedric trained with Sporting’s youth system for 11 years before making his debut in the Primeira Liga.
Cedric’s international career began in 2006 when he was called to represent Portugal’s U16 team. He then went on to represent Portugal in U17, U18, U19, U20 and U21 gaining 72 youth caps in total before making his debut for the senior side.
Debut
Cedric Soares made his professional debut in Primeira Liga on 8th May 2011 where he started the game in a loss against Vitória FC. Cedric was then loaned to another Primeira Liga club, Académica de Coimbra for the 2011-2012 season.
Cedric played regularly for the club and made heads turn when his team won that season’s Taça de Portugal.
After representing Portugal in every youth format, Cedric made his debut for the senior team in 2014 in a friendly loss against France. The first international goal came from his boot in 2017 at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in a draw against Mexico.
Rise to glory
Cedric grabbed the World’s attention after his transfer to English Club, Southampton in 2015 for a transfer fee of 4.7 million pounds.
He made his debut for the team in a 3-0 win against Vitesse Arnhem. Cedric, who was criticized at Sporting for neglecting his defensive duties in favour of his attacking instincts has made substantial improvement in the recent times to develop as an all-round full back.
Cedric cemented his spot in the Southampton squad with impressive performances and has made 73 appearances since his debut. Cedric was a vital part of the team when Southampton finished as the runner’s up in the 2016-17 EFL Cup.
After being part of the UEFA European Championship winning Portuguese team, Cedric continued his form in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, where his team finished at the third position. Cedric was awarded the Order Of Merit for services to the country in 2016.
With the FIFA World Cup just round the corner, Cedric would be hoping to continue his commendable performances for the national team.
