Born in Belo Horizonte, Fred spent six years of his childhood at local club Atlético Mineiro, before joining Porto Alegre in 2009. One year later, he joined Internacional. He initially represented the club at various youth levels and helped them win six titles in 2010, including the Copa Santiago and Copa FGF. He made his professional debut aged 18 on 26 January 2012, against Cerâmica in the Campeonato Gaúcho. He scored his first goal in professional football on 18 July 2012, in a Série A game against his former club Atlético Mineiro. Overall, he scored eight goals in 55 appearances for Internacional and won the Campeonato Gaúcho twice.
On 26 June 2013, Fred signed for Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal worth €15 million. He scored two goals on his competitive debut in the Ukrainian Super Cup, helping Shakhtar to a 3–1 victory over Chornomorets Odesa. During the Ukrainian crisis, Fred was among the six Shakhtar players who refused to return to Donetsk in July 2014 following a pre-season friendly against Olympique Lyonnais in France. A few days later, he returned to Ukraine after the club relocated training sessions to Kiev. On 21 February 2018, Fred scored a free-kick, his first goal in the UEFA Champions League, in a 2–1 round of 16 first-leg victory against AS Roma. With Shakhtar, Fred won 10 trophies, including three Ukrainian Premier League titles.
Fred played three times for the Brazil under-20 team at the 2013 South American Youth Football Championship. He made his debut for the Brazil national team on 12 November 2014, as a substitute in a 4–0 victory over Turkey in Istanbul. Due to an injury to Luiz Gustavo, Fred was called up to Brazil's squad for the 2015Copa América in Chile, starting in their first two Group C matches as they reached the quarter-finals. He was initially selected in the Brazil under-23 squad for the 2016 Olympic Games. However, he was not released to play in the tournament by Shakhtar Donetsk and was replaced in the squad by Walace. In May 2018, he was named in Tite's final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, but failed to make an appearance at the tournament.
Doping case
Fred tested positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide in a sample collected during the 2015 Copa América. In July 2015, he released a statement claiming he was innocent, while awaiting the results of a second sample. Shakhtar Donetsk were cleared by UEFA to select him at the start of the 2015–16 season, after a complaint by Fenerbahçe over his appearance in a Champions League third qualifying round game. On 15 December 2015, he received a one-year suspension from CONMEBOL, preventing him from playing in any CONMEBOL sanctioned games, but allowing him to continue playing for Shakhtar. On 5 February 2016, FIFA extended the ban to cover all football worldwide for one year, backdated to 27 June 2015. In March 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the ban, believing it to be potentially lenient. In March 2017, after Fred had returned from the suspension, an agreement was reached with WADA before the CAS hearing that resulted in him being unable to play football until July 2017.
