Kansas City native Ariana Dos Santos is six years old. The soccer enthusiast has been playing the beautiful game since 2014, coached by her dad David. Over the past 12 months, David and Ariana started to make videos of her soccer skills to post online. It didn't take long for people to take notice of the talented kindergartner.
The Brazilian native has a strong affinity for the Spanish powerhouse Barcelona because her Brazilian role model Neymar stars for the Catalan side. Meanwhile, Andressa Alves became the first Brazilian women's player to sign for Barcelona shortly after the 2016 Rio Olympics. Alves noticed Dos Santos on Instagram and invited the young fan and soccer sensation to meet her and others associated with the Barcelona organization including Brazilian midfielder Rafinha.
When Dos Santos returned to the states, Sporting KC newcomer Ilie invited Dos Santos to Children's Mercy Park to tour the state-of-the-art stadium and to meet him and his teammates. Ilie, a Catalan native grew up playing in the Barcelona Academy before being named captain of their B team and earning 100+ appearances for the squad. Dos Santos joined Ilie for the Walk of the Champions before the match and quickly became the newest good luck charm for Sporting Kansas City, who earned a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids.
