Érico Henrique Esteves de Sousa (born 12 March 1995) is a Portuguese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club Boreham Wood. He will become a free agent on 30 June 2024. He came through the youth ranks at

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

and played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Accrington Stanley and in the Slovenian PrvaLiga for

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

. He also played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for Hyde United, Tadcaster Albion, Tranmere Rovers,

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and Grimsby Town. He is a former Portugal U19 international, having received one cap in 2014.

Career

Early life and career

Born in Vale da Amoreira, Moita, Portugal, Sousa moved to England when he was 10. He started his career at

, joining them when he was 15. After leaving Manchester City, Sousa joined

at the academy. After progressing through the ranks of the club's academy, Sousa was released by Barnsley on 7 May 2014. After leaving Barnsley, Sousa joined Hyde United. During his time at Hyde United, Sousa made 14 appearances and scoring once for the side.

NK Celje

After leaving Hyde United, Sousa moved to Slovenia, joining

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

on 4 August 2015, signing a three-year contract. On 7 August 2015, Sousa made his professional debut with

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

in a Slovenian PrvaLiga match against Gorica, scoring in a 3-2 loss. He then played a vital role when he set up four goals in three matches between 2 December 2015 and 12 December 2015, including twice against ND Gorica, in which they drew 2-2. He then scored his second goal for the club on 19 March 2016, in a 2-1 loss against

NK Domžale Nogometni klub Domžale ( en, Domžale Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Domžale or simply Domžale, is a Slovenian football club that plays in the town of Domžale. They have won both the Slovenian League and the Slovenian Cup twice. ...

. He established himself in the first team at Celje and went on to make a total of 29 appearances and scoring once in his first season. However, in the 2016-17 season, Sousa made no appearances for the club and left the club in August 2016. After leaving NK Celje, Sousa enjoyed his time at the club, quoting: ''"It's a bit different. Language was a bit of a struggle but I started getting used to it and learned a few words myself."''

Tadcaster Albion

After leaving NK Celje, Sousa returned to England, where he joined

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on trial, featuring in the club's U23 Development League fixture against Derby County on 26 September. Sousa remained a free agent until he joined Tadcaster Albion on 6 January 2017. He made three appearances and scoring once against Goole on 30 January 2017.

Accrington Stanley

On February 13, 2017, he signed a deal to join Accrington Stanley until the end of the season. This marked Sousas’ return to the English Football League after playing in the Slovenian top flight with

NK Celje Nogometni klub Celje ( en, Celje Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Celje or simply Celje (), is an association football club from Celje, Slovenia. They play in the Slovenian PrvaLiga. Together with Maribor, they are the only club that h ...

in 2016. However, Sousa made no appearances for the side and was released from Accrington Stanley on March 21, 2017 following complications regarding registering him as a player.

Tranmere Rovers

He signed a new contract with National League side Tranmere Rovers, after manager Micky Mellon was impressed with his ability in the training sessions he had with the club. After missing out four matches, Sousa did not make his Tranmere Rovers debut, coming on as a late second-half substitute, in a 9-0 win over

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

on 8 April 2017. After making four appearances at the end of the 2016-17 season, Sousa was released by the club.

Return to Accrington Stanley

After leaving Tranmere Rovers at the end of the 2016–17 season, Sousa re-joined Accrington Stanley for the second time on 27 June 2017, signing a one-year contract. Sousa made his second debut for the club in a 3-2 win over

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

's U21 on 19 September 2017 in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

. He scored his first goal in a 2-1 loss against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in the EFL Trophy. On 7 November, he scored twice in a 4-0 win away to Wigan Athletic U23s, also in the EFL Trophy. Sousa continued to struggle in the first team, as well as his own injury concern. Accrington exercised a contractual option at the end of the 2017–18 season to retain him. On 8 October Sousa joined

on a short-term loan. On 24 June 2020 it was announced that Sousa would be leaving Accrington Stanley when his contract expired.

Darlington

Sousa made a brief return to Tadcaster Albion, before joining

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

on 28 October 2020. He scored four goals from nine National League North appearances before the season was ended early because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and also contributed three goals in five

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

matches, finishing overall top scorer with 7 goals from 14 games.

Grimsby Town

On 22 June 2021, Sousa joined

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

side Grimsby Town, on a one-year contract. Sousa played in the

2022 National League play-off final The 2022 National League play-off Final, known as the Vanarama National League Promotion Final for sponsorship reasons, was an association football match played on 5 June 2022 at the London Stadium between Solihull Moors and Grimsby Town. It dete ...

as Grimsby beat

2–1 at the London Stadium to return to the

. On 11 June 2022, the club announced their retained list ahead of the 2022–23 season and confirmed that Sousa would be among those released when his contract expires on 30 June.

Boreham Wood

On 26 July 2022, Sousa signed for Boreham Wood. Following Wood's relegation, Sousa departed the club on a free transfer at the end of the 2023–24 season. Despite initially being released Boreham Wood announced on 28/06/2024 that Sousa had re-signed for the club ahead of the 2024-25 season

International career

In March 2014, Sousa represented Portugal U19, making his debut in 1-0 win over Qatar U19.

Honours

Grimsby Town *

play-off winners:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* *
NZS profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Erico 1995 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Manchester City F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players NK Celje players Tadcaster Albion A.F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players National League (English football) players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Northern Premier League players English Football League players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England People from Moita Footballers from Setúbal District