Bruno Costa is regarded as one of the top football decision-makers from Brazil, having worked with many of the country's top players with the Brazil national team and Fluminense FC.

And then he impressed in six-and-a-half years as Director of Scouting & Player Recruitment at San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer, recruiting a host of South American talents including Club Sporting Cristal's Marcos López, who has since joined Dutch giants Feyenoord. 

A key part of his success in recruitment and his ability to build a global network in the transfer market has been having access to TransferRoom, world football's marketplace.

Indeed, the López transfer to Feyenoord was done via TransferRoom by Costa and the player's agency, TransferRoom Trusted Agency Vibra Futbol, who targeted up to 20 buying clubs through the Plus Pitch feature.

So when he left San Jose in November 2023 and returned to Brazil with Série A side Fortaleza Esporte Clube, the first thing he did was to convince the President and ownership that the club needed to join the platform.

Instant access to the global transfer market

“It's the fastest-growing club in Brazil,” Costa said in the video below. “So when I came to the club as a Sporting Director last December, the first thing I did was speak to the President and our CEO and tell and show them how important it was for Fortaleza to be part of TransferRoom.

“It’s good to get in contact, talk to other players, agents, clubs and everyone to get the right information.

“There is also the analytical part of the platform that helps you to make decisions on players signings.

“So when I moved to Fortaleza, it was very easy for me to show the importance of the platform to the club, to the ownership and also to the top management of the club. They have embraced it right away and it's been working really well for Fortaleza.”

In his very first month they became members of football’s marketplace, opening up direct access to the decision-makers and real-time transfer market intelligence at over 750 clubs worldwide.

Being on TransferRoom opens up a world of transfer opportunities for a club on the rise.

Promoted to Série A in 2018, they made history by qualifying for the Copa Libertadores for the first time in 2023, and then they reached their first final of Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second-biggest club competition, in 2023.

"Fortaleza is a centenary club that needs to expose itself to the international market," Costa added.

Costa was speaking at the TransferRoom Summit, held in Rome in March 2024.The Summit is an event Costa attended multiple times previously with San Jose since 2018, making a host of transfers happen through one-to-one transfer talks and exclusive networking with 100s of club decision-makers and select Trusted Agents.

“It's very important, the biggest football summit in the world,” Costa added.

Register for our next TransferRoom Summit, in Cancún on 3-4 June 2024.

“It's a very good opportunity to talk about our players and also get players opportunities from other clubs.

Bruno Costa pictured holding transfer talks at a TransferRoom Summit

“It's amazing there's more than 400 clubs from all over the world here in Rome right now. Besides the 23 meetings that we have face to face, we have the networking. We have a chance to speak to 100s and 100s of people.

“We got deals done in the past, coming to the TransferRoom Summit, and I'm sure from this event we're going to bring good opportunities to Fortaleza, for future player signings.”

See the Expected Transfer Value career history, resale value and more of Fortaleza's squad and 1000s of other players through our new Player Profiles.