Ricardo Lucarelli is a Brazilian outside hitter, captain of Itambé Minas and one of the longest-serving players of Brazil’s current national-team generation. A 196 cm wing spiker from Contagem, Minas Gerais, he has built his career around a complete outside-hitter role rather than attacking volume alone, combining serve reception, transition scoring, back-row offense, serving and blocking. His international résumé includes Olympic gold at Rio 2016, World Championship medals and major titles in the World Cup, Volleyball Nations League and World Grand Champions Cup.
Lucarelli returned to Minas for the 2026/27 season after six consecutive years abroad with Trentino, Lube Civitanova and Piacenza in Italy and JTEKT STINGS Aichi in Japan. Minas appointed him captain on his return to the club where his senior career first developed. His international career also remains active: in September 2026, Brazil reclaimed the South American Championship, qualified directly for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and named Lucarelli the tournament MVP.
Player Information
| Attribute | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Ricardo Lucarelli Santos de Souza |
| Known As | Ricardo Lucarelli, Lucarelli |
| Date of Birth | February 14, 1992 |
| Place of Birth | Contagem, Minas Gerais, Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Position | Outside Hitter |
| Height | 196 cm |
| Listed Weight | 90 kg |
| Listed Spike Reach | 355 cm |
| Listed Block Reach | 340 cm |
| Dominant Hand | Right |
| Current Club | Itambé Minas |
| Current Club Role | Captain |
| Previous Clubs | Meritus, Minas Tênis Clube, SESI São Paulo, Funvic Taubaté, Itas Trentino, Cucine Lube Civitanova, Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, JTEKT STINGS Aichi |
| National Team | Brazil Men’s National Volleyball Team |
| National-Team Number | 18 |
| @lucarelli8 |
Brazil’s Olympic Committee gives his full name as Ricardo Lucarelli Santos de Souza, while Volleyball World currently lists him at 196 cm and No. 18 for Brazil. The 90 kg weight, 355 cm spike reach, 340 cm block reach and right-handed designation are established player-database measurements.
Early Life & Volleyball Beginnings
Lucarelli did not grow up focused exclusively on volleyball. As a child in Contagem, he tried football, swimming, basketball and handball. Volleyball entered the picture when he accompanied his sister to a training session and became interested in the sport himself. He then began playing through a social project in his hometown, giving him a pathway into organized competition before he entered the Brazilian club-development system.
His early club years included Meritus from 2005 to 2008 before he moved into the Minas Tênis Clube structure. Minas became the environment in which he developed from a promising youth player into a senior-level outside hitter. His progress was fast enough to take him into Brazil’s age-group national teams, including the U19 program, before a senior national-team call-up arrived in 2012.
Lucarelli was only 20 when Brazil gave him an unusual opportunity around the London 2012 Olympics. He was not part of the official Olympic playing roster; instead, he travelled as a guest training player, working against experienced stars such as Giba and Dante during practice. In a later Volleyball World profile interview, he described that period as an opportunity to see at close range how established champions approached daily training. The experience came shortly before his own breakthrough with the senior national team.
Club Career
Lucarelli’s senior career developed at Minas Tênis Clube, where he remained through the 2012/13 season. By then, he had moved from promising prospect to senior Brazil international, and his performances led to a transfer to SESI São Paulo in 2013. Two seasons with SESI were followed by a longer and highly productive period at Funvic Taubaté, beginning in 2015.
Taubaté became the defining club of his Brazilian career before he moved abroad. Lucarelli spent five seasons there, and the 2018/19 campaign brought a major domestic breakthrough: Taubaté won the Brazilian Superliga and Lucarelli was named both the competition’s MVP and Best Outside Hitter. The title came after a difficult period in which injuries had kept him away from Brazil’s 2018 national-team season, making his return to top-level club performance particularly significant.
In 2020, at 28, Lucarelli left Brazilian club volleyball for the first time and joined Itas Trentino. The move was important technically as well as geographically. He later credited the Italian league with pushing him to become a more complete player, especially in serve reception. Trentino reached the CEV Champions League final during his season there, while Lucarelli experienced the week-to-week demands of SuperLega volleyball before moving to another Italian contender.
He joined Cucine Lube Civitanova for 2021/22 and ended the season as an Italian champion. Lube defeated Perugia in the championship series to secure the SuperLega title, giving Lucarelli his first national league championship outside Brazil. Contrary to some older profile summaries, Lube did not win the 2021 Club World Championship; the major club title from Lucarelli’s season there was the 2021/22 Italian championship.
Lucarelli moved to Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza in 2022 and spent two seasons with the club. The standout team trophy came in February 2023, when Piacenza won the Coppa Italia in Rome. The victory added another major domestic title to a European spell that had now included three of Italy’s leading clubs.
Japan followed in 2024. Lucarelli signed with JTEKT STINGS Aichi and remained there for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons. The first campaign took JTEKT to the league final, while his second produced 303 points in SV.League competition: 253 in attack, 26 from blocks and 24 from serves. The club confirmed in May 2026 that he would leave when his contract expired at the end of that month.
His next move closed a 13-year loop. Lucarelli returned to Itambé Minas for 2026/27 and was introduced as team captain. In Minas’s official 2026/27 roster presentation, he described returning to the club as something he had long hoped to do and noted that his family’s relationship with Minas predated his own volleyball career.
Club Career Timeline
| Seasons | Team | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2005–2008 | Meritus | Brazil |
| 2008–2013 | Minas Tênis Clube | Brazil |
| 2013–2015 | SESI São Paulo | Brazil |
| 2015–2020 | Funvic Taubaté | Brazil |
| 2020–2021 | Itas Trentino | Italy |
| 2021–2022 | Cucine Lube Civitanova | Italy |
| 2022–2024 | Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza | Italy |
| 2024–2026 | JTEKT STINGS Aichi | Japan |
| 2026–present | Itambé Minas | Brazil |
The early Brazilian portion of the timeline is documented by Trentino’s club profile, while JTEKT officially records Lucarelli’s two seasons in Japan and his subsequent departure in May 2026.
National Team Career
Lucarelli’s senior Brazil career began in 2012, but 2013 was the season in which his international standing changed rapidly. After winning the FIVB U23 World Championship and being named tournament MVP, he established himself in the senior squad and was involved in a year that included Brazil’s World Grand Champions Cup title. By 2014, he was already a central part of the senior team, helping Brazil win silver at the World Championship and earning selection to the tournament’s Dream Team.
The defining achievement came at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Playing his first Olympics as an official roster member, Lucarelli was part of a Brazil team that faced substantial pressure as host nation and reached the elimination phase only after a difficult pool stage. He scored 14 points against France in the match that secured Brazil’s place in the knockout rounds, then suffered a muscle injury in his right leg during the quarterfinals. He continued playing as Brazil advanced through Russia in the semifinal and defeated Italy in the gold-medal match.
Lucarelli remained a major international figure after Rio. Brazil won the 2017 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup, where he was named both MVP and one of the tournament’s Best Outside Hitters. Serious injuries then disrupted his momentum and kept him out of the entire 2018 national-team season. His return in 2019 was successful at both club and international level, culminating in Brazil’s FIVB World Cup title.
In 2021, Brazil won the inaugural men’s Volleyball Nations League title and later finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics. Lucarelli’s role by this stage was broader than that of a primary attacker. His experience in Italy had strengthened his reception game, and he became an important stabilizing passer in a Brazilian system that relies heavily on good first contact to activate its middle blockers.
Brazil returned to the World Championship podium in 2022 with a bronze medal. Lucarelli was still one of the team’s key offensive players, scoring 18 points in the semifinal against Poland before leaving the match with an injury. Brazil recovered to defeat Slovenia in the bronze-medal match.
His international career continued through another Olympic cycle. After competing at Paris 2024, he remained with Brazil in 2025 and helped the team return to the VNL podium with bronze. Rather than ending his national-team career as he moved deeper into his thirties, Lucarelli remained on the 2026 roster and wore No. 18 throughout that year’s VNL.
The 2026 season produced another major individual recognition. Brazil won the South American Championship in Rio de Janeiro, defeating Argentina in straight sets in the decisive match. The continental title secured qualification for both the 2027 FIVB World Cup and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, while Lucarelli was selected as the tournament MVP. At 34, he was still contributing not simply as an experienced roster presence but as a player capable of receiving the top individual award in a senior international championship.
Playing Style & Strengths
Lucarelli’s longevity at international level is closely connected to the balance in his outside-hitter game. He has enough attacking range to score from the left side, in transition and from the back row, but Brazil has also repeatedly trusted him as part of its primary reception structure. That matters because an outside hitter in Brazil’s system is not evaluated only by how many balls he kills; stable first contact determines how freely the setter can use the middle of the net.
Serve reception became an especially important part of Lucarelli’s development after his move to Italy. In a 2021 Volleyball World interview about his first season with Trentino, he discussed how playing in SuperLega improved that part of his game and connected good passing directly with Brazil’s ability to involve its middle blockers. At that point in the 2021 VNL, he was Brazil’s second-most productive passer behind libero Thales Hoss.
Offensively, Lucarelli attacks with a fast approach and can contribute both in-system and when the rally becomes less structured. His back-row presence gives setters another attacking option without removing a front-row middle or opposite from the offense, while his experience makes him comfortable handling transition balls and high sets against a formed block. His listed 355 cm spike reach supports that attacking range, although timing and shot selection have become increasingly important as his career has progressed.
He also remains a meaningful contributor from the service line and at the block. During the 2026 VNL, Lucarelli produced 88 total points, including 69 attacks, 12 blocks and seven aces. Those numbers illustrate the breadth of his role: he was not dependent on one scoring channel and continued to produce direct points in all three front-line scoring categories.
The result is a profile different from that of a pure high-volume scorer. Lucarelli can carry stretches of the attack, but his value is amplified by the number of phases in which he remains involved. Reception, transition movement, back-row offense, serving and blocking all allow him to influence a match even when he is not receiving the largest share of sets.
Major Achievements
Selected National Team Honors
| Year | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | FIVB World Grand Champions Cup | Gold |
| 2014 | FIVB World Championship | Silver |
| 2016 | Olympic Games — Rio de Janeiro | Gold |
| 2017 | FIVB World Grand Champions Cup | Gold |
| 2019 | FIVB World Cup | Gold |
| 2021 | Volleyball Nations League | Gold |
| 2022 | FIVB World Championship | Bronze |
| 2025 | Volleyball Nations League | Bronze |
| 2026 | South American Championship | Gold |
Lucarelli’s Olympic gold, 2014 World Championship silver and 2022 World Championship bronze are also recorded in the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s career summary. Brazil’s 2025 VNL bronze and 2026 South American title extended his senior medal record into a second decade.
Selected Club Honors
| Year / Season | Competition | Result | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018/19 | Brazilian Superliga | Champion | Funvic Taubaté |
| 2021/22 | Italian SuperLega | Champion | Cucine Lube Civitanova |
| 2022/23 | Coppa Italia | Champion | Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza |
The 2018/19 Brazilian championship remains a particularly important club achievement because Lucarelli returned from his injury-disrupted 2018 period not only to win the league with Taubaté but also to receive the season MVP award. His later Italian titles demonstrated that the move overseas translated into team success as well as individual development.
Selected Individual Awards
| Year / Season | Competition | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | FIVB U23 World Championship | MVP |
| 2014 | FIVB World League | Dream Team / Best Outside Hitter |
| 2014 | FIVB World Championship | Dream Team / Best Outside Hitter |
| 2017 | FIVB World Grand Champions Cup | MVP |
| 2017 | FIVB World Grand Champions Cup | Best Outside Hitter |
| 2018/19 | Brazilian Superliga | MVP |
| 2018/19 | Brazilian Superliga | Best Outside Hitter |
| 2026 | South American Championship | MVP |
Lucarelli’s individual honors cover very different phases of his career: a U23 MVP award during his emergence, Dream Team recognition as he became a senior international starter, a domestic MVP after returning from injury and, more than a decade after his first senior breakthroughs, the 2026 South American Championship MVP award.
Where Is Ricardo Lucarelli Playing Now?
Ricardo Lucarelli plays for Itambé Minas in the 2026/27 Brazilian season and serves as the team’s captain. His return followed two seasons with JTEKT STINGS Aichi in Japan and six consecutive club seasons outside Brazil. Minas officially presented him as part of its new roster in August 2026, bringing him back to the organization he represented from 2008 to 2013.
His new club season began with two straight-set victories in the Campeonato Mineiro. Minas defeated Monte Carmelo 3-0 on September 23 before beating Montes Claros 3-0 on September 26, with Lucarelli scoring 10 points in the second match. Internationally, he remains active with the Brazil Men’s National Volleyball Team. Only days before beginning his club season, he had been named MVP of Brazil’s South American Championship-winning campaign, which secured a direct berth at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Recent Performance Snapshot
Lucarelli’s final Japanese season and his 2026 national-team campaign provide two useful recent samples of his production.
| Competition | Total Points | Attack Points | Block Points | Serve Points / Aces | Attack Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 Japan SV.League — JTEKT STINGS Aichi | 303 | 253 | 26 | 24 | 45.10% |
| 2026 Volleyball Nations League — Brazil | 88 | 69 | 12 | 7 | 44.23% |
The SV.League numbers came across 48 matches in his final season with JTEKT. His 2026 VNL totals were followed by an even more important result in September, when Brazil won the South American Championship and Lucarelli received the tournament MVP award.
Frequently Asked Questions
How tall is Ricardo Lucarelli?
Ricardo Lucarelli is listed at 196 cm by Volleyball World and the Brazilian Olympic Committee. His established player-database measurements also list a 355 cm spike reach and 340 cm block reach.
What position does Ricardo Lucarelli play?
Lucarelli is an outside hitter. His role combines attacking from the left side and back row with serve reception, defense, serving and blocking.
Which club does Ricardo Lucarelli play for?
Lucarelli plays for Itambé Minas in the 2026/27 season and is the club’s captain. He returned to Minas in 2026 after two seasons with JTEKT STINGS Aichi in Japan.
Did Ricardo Lucarelli win an Olympic gold medal?
Yes. Lucarelli won Olympic gold with Brazil at Rio 2016, his first Olympics as an official member of the playing roster. He later represented Brazil at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
Is Ricardo Lucarelli still playing for Brazil?
Yes. Lucarelli remained on Brazil’s senior national-team roster in 2026, wore No. 18 during the VNL and was named MVP of the 2026 South American Championship as Brazil won the title and qualified for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
What did Ricardo Lucarelli achieve in Japan?
Lucarelli spent two seasons with JTEKT STINGS Aichi from 2024 to 2026. JTEKT reached the league final during his first season, and in 2025/26 he recorded 303 SV.League points before leaving the club at the expiration of his contract in May 2026.
References
- Brazilian Olympic Committee — Ricardo Lucarelli Santos de Souza Olympic profile
- Volleyball World — Lucarelli: Always moving forward, never stopping
- Volleyball World — Lucarelli 2.0 helping Brazil in the VNL
- Volleyball World — Ricardo Lucarelli VNL 2026 player profile and statistics
- FIVB — Brazil reclaim South American crown and qualify for LA28
- Minas Tênis Clube — Itambé Minas presents its 2026/27 roster
- Minas Tênis Clube — Itambé Minas defeats Montes Claros in the 2026 Campeonato Mineiro
- JTEKT STINGS Aichi — Ricardo Lucarelli departure announcement
- Volleyball World — Ricardo Lucarelli 2025/26 SV.League player statistics
- Trentino Volley — Ricardo Lucarelli official player profile
- Lega Pallavolo Serie A — Lube wins the 2021/22 SuperLega title
- FIPAV — Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza wins the 2023 Coppa Italia
- Volleybox — Ricardo Lucarelli player data and physical measurements