Born in Rio de Janeiro on 2 April 1986, Léo Matos grew up in the São Gonçalo favela.

He started playing football at the youth ranks of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo and became an U17 international with Brazil, going on to win the World Cup of that group age. His displays attracted the interest of Olympique de Marseille who signed him in January 2003.

Marseille didn’t prove hospitable for the 17-year old Brazilian who returned to Flamengo 18 months later. He made his first appearances at a professional level and then decided to give it another shot at Marseille. He earned some playing time, but couldn’t establish himself and chose to be released of his contract and continue his career in Brazil.

He played on loan for Tombense, Paraná, Figueirense and Vila Nova, before making his second attempt at European football in February 2010, signing for FC Chornomorets Odessa. He established himself there are one of the best players of the club and of the Ukrainian league.

Although he is a full-back, he played most of his Chornomorets matches as a right midfielder, proving he can cover the whole right wing. In the summer of 2014 he signed for FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and changed his position to left full-back, a quite successful move. He participated in the UEFA Europa League final of 2014-15, where his team lost to Sevilla FC.

Since the summer of 2016, when he wore the black and white, he never lost his position on the right-hand side of the defense, from which he had asignificant attacking contribution.