WHEN Leo Scienza arrived in Sweden, he discovered a lie. The trials he had been promised at professional clubs did not exist.
Then 20 years old, Scienza had moved halfway across the world from Brazil to Scandinavia with the ambition of becoming a professional footballer. His trust had been broken.
For much of his youth, he had played futsal, a hugely popular version of football in his home country, but he never considered returning to Brazil before he had salvaged his dreams.
It was time to grit his teeth and push through the adversity. Scienza signed for Fanna BK, a team from Sweden’s fifth tier - a far cry from the level he had hoped to play at.
Five years on, and now a standout player and a fan favourite at Saints in the Championship, his decision has been vindicated, but life was not easy in Northern Europe.
In Sweden, Scienza lived in the basement of Fanna’s owner's house alongside other Brazilian players and remained firmly amateur.
“I played there for one and a half years. It was a very, very hard time,” Scienza told the Daily Echo, reflecting on his first steps in European football.
“I had a promise that I would go there and make some trials in the first and the second league of Sweden. When I arrived, it wasn't true.
“They just gave me a club in the fifth league. It was a very, very, very low league. We used to train three times a week.
“I never saw a euro, so I didn't have a salary,” he continued. “They gave me food and a mattress on the floor to sleep in the house from the owner of the club in those times.
“It was a hard time, very hard. But like everything in my life, the hardest time was the best to make me better as a player, as a person, and as a man.”
At the time, the Brazilian did not hold an EU passport. He was living in Sweden on a tourist visa, meaning he could only stay in the country for three months at a time.
This also meant that he was unable to get a job. This made Scienza’s life even more stressful, as he was unable to supplement his football ambitions.
In an interview with Luxemburger Wort , Scienza claimed that he lived off food purchased for him by the club's owner. He couldn’t even treat himself to an ice cream.
“I was completely amateur,” he added, speaking at Staplewood. “I wanted to have a job, but I couldn’t.
"I didn't have my European passport that I have now from Luxembourg. I still had my Brazilian one.”
“I had no money. I cried every day. Every day I begged, I talked to my mother. I was alone," he told Sport1 in another interview last season.
While life away from football was challenging, Scienza made light work of Sweden’s fifth division. His talents were clear.
In 18 games, he scored 18 goals and notched 28 assists. So it was no surprise that his form caught the eye of other clubs.
Schalke 04, a Bundesliga side at the time, would offer him his first “real trial”, and this came soon after he had received his Luxembourg passport.
His mother, working at a registration office in Brazil, had discovered his Luxembourgish heritage. As an EU citizen, Scienza’s life changed.
After impressing while on trial in Gelsenkirchen, he was offered a two-year contract to play for Schalke’s B team in Germany’s fourth tier.
This is where his career started to take off. After 15 goals and 17 assists in 59 games, he moved to Magdeburg, and two years later, he was a Bundesliga player at Heidenheim.
“The period that I struggled in Sweden was a very important part of my life, and then everything got better because I got the chance to do a real trial at Schalke 04,” he explained.
“This is my heart club, it's the team that I support until today. I just love this club because they gave me the chance that no one else gave me.
“I was 22 years old and I signed a two-year contract in the under-23s. This was my first step in semi-professional football.
“I stayed two years there, and then I played one year in the sixth league after this in Magdeburg. After this year in the sixth league, I played in the third league for Ulm.
“We won the league, and I was the best player in the league. I did again, not one step, but two. I went to the Bundesliga and to the Conference League.
“And then we played a very hard season because we were a very small club in the Bundesliga. We fought until the end to stay.
“We managed to do it because we won in the relegation game. I scored the goal in the 95th minute, it was also an amazing moment of my career. And we stayed in the league.”
Léo Scienza est devenu le héros de Heidenheim en marquant le but victorieux dans les dernières minutes du match retour des barrages de relégation.
C’est notamment grâce à ce but et à ses 3 assists contre Elversberg que son club se maintient en Bundesliga. pic.twitter.com/TXlApt6tHj— Luxembourg Football 🇱🇺 (@ActuFootLUX) May 27, 2025
Scienza was not short of options following his first season in the Bundesliga, and Saints faced competition to sign him for around £8million on deadline day.
But there was only one place the tricky winger wanted to go. Something clicked in his mind after speaking with Southampton.
"I had a few options to do the next step in the Bundesliga, in La Liga, in these kinds of leagues,” he concluded.
"But when I heard about Southampton, I spoke with Will [Still], I spoke with Johannes [Spors], about the project, the mentality, the way that they see things going here in the club.
"I was pretty sure of what to do, so it was a very easy decision. I didn't even care so much about the others.
"Since I arrived here, everything has been amazing. The fans, the teammates, the club, the city. It's just lovely. It's just amazing.
"It made me very angry and I’ve been struggling to understand why we are in such a bad situation because everything around us is top.
"I'm just trying to bring this positivity as a new player with new energy, together with the teammates.
"I want to find a click to change this situation to be where we deserve. And where we deserve is to be winning games and be on top of the league.”
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