Houston Dynamo FC acquired forward Sebastián Ferreira as a Designated Player in a full transfer from Club Libertad Asunción in Paraguay, the clubs announced today. Ferreira’s signing is the most expensive player signing in Houston Dynamo FC history. The transfer will be completed pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and P-1 Visa.
Ferreira, who is signed through the 2025 season with an option for 2026, is the first Designated Player signed by general manager Pat Onstad and head coach Paulo Nagamura and is the 13th designated player in Club History. The forward joins the Dynamo after two years with Libertad, where he won two league scoring titles and led the club to the 2021 Apertura championship last May.
“Sebastian is a high-potential attacker with an impressive scoring record in South America and LigaMX. He also possesses the tenacity and selflessness that we are looking for in Houston Dynamo FC players,” said Onstad. “Our top priority this offseason was to sign a forward who can be a difference maker and it’s a huge credit to Ted Segal and the rest of the ownership group to provide us the resources to make the largest player acquisition in club history.”
Ferreira scored nine goals during the 2020/2021 Clausura and 13 goals during the 2019/2020 Apertura season to earn the Golden Boot following each campaign. The Paraguayan international finished with 34 goals and 12 assists in 79 appearances in all competitions for Libertad.
“Very excited to join the Club, grateful for the vote of confidence from the technical staff and it shows that I have grown as a player and have made an impact on the field,” Ferreira said. “You could tell from the tone and professionalism from our first meeting, this is an ambitious club and as a player you want to be a part of that. I’m grateful for the opportunity and excited to represent the Club.”
The Asunción, Paraguay native was a key player for Libertad on the international stage at both the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Ferreira scored three goals in 2020 to lead Libertad to the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores. The forward scored a brace in the second round of the 2021 edition of the tournament against CD Universidad Catolica from Ecuador.
Libertad would go on to play in the Copa Sudamericana for the remainder of 2021 and Ferreira scored two goals on the way to an appearance in the semifinals against Red Bull Bragantino from Brazil. The forward scored the series-winning goal against Santos FC from Brazil in the quarterfinals last Aug.
The forward joined Libertad after four seasons with Club Atletico Morelia in LigaMX from 2018-2020 and he finished with 16 goals and four assists in 52 appearances across all competitions. Ferreira scored his first goal for the club on Aug. 4, 2018 in a 2-2 draw with Veracruz and finished with five goals in that campaign. He also led Morelia to the Liguilla during the 2019 Apertura season and reached the semifinals against Club America.
The forward also spent time on loan to Independiente FBC in Paraguay from 2017-2018. He scored 15 goals in 30 appearances for the team. Ferreira made his professional debut with Olimpia Asuncion as an 18-year-old against Deportivo Tachira from Venezuela in the 2016 edition of the Copa Libertadores. The forward would feature again in the 2017 Copa Libertadores entering the game as a substitute in the second-round tie against Independiente del Valle from Ecuador.
Internationally, the 23-year-old has represented Paraguay at the U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels, scoring six goals in 11 appearances across those age groups. The forward was recently named to the senior Paraguayan team for the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier against Venezuela last fall. Ferreira’s first senior national team call-up came in 2020 for the regional World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in Nov. 2020.
Ferreira will occupy an international roster spot as well as one of Houston’s Designated Player spots. With this addition, the Dynamo now have 28 players under contract going into the beginning of the 2022 preseason.
