Afonso Miguel Castro Vilhena Taira (born 17 June 1992) is a Portuguese professional

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 for Saudi Arabian club Al-Kholood as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Born in

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Taira joined Sporting CP's youth system in 2006 (aged 14) from neighbouring

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

. He made his professional debut in 2011 with

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

in the Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, signing a three-year contract but making only three competitive appearances during his only season in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Taira returned to his country after being loaned to

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

of the Segunda Liga. The move was extended for the following campaign. Taira returned to his former youth club Estoril on 8 June 2014, after agreeing to a four-year deal. He played 13

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

matches in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

, in an eventual 12th-place finish. Taira scored his only Portuguese top-flight goal on 24 October 2015, in a 2–2 home draw against Rio Ave FC. On 19 July 2017, he signed with Israeli Premier League team Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona FC, and a year later

Beitar Jerusalem F.C. Beitar Jerusalem Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply as Beitar (), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Jerus ...

in the same competition. After spending the 2019–20 season in the Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

with

FC Hermannstadt Asociația Fotbal Club Hermannstadt (), commonly known as FC Hermannstadt, Hermannstadt or familiarly as Sibiu (), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Sibiu (german: Hermannstadt), Sibiu County, which currently competes ...

, Taira joined top-tier B-SAD on a two-year contract. On 31 August 2021, he moved to

Casa Pia A.C. Casa Pia Atlético Clube is a Portuguese multi-sports founded in 1920 and based in Lisbon, Portugal, best-known for its football team, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after Casa Pia, a Portuguese children's charity, and many ...

one league below, totalling 28 games in his first season (24 in the league, one

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

) to help to a return to the main division after 83 years away. In June 2023, Taira signed with Saudi First Division League club

Al-Kholood Club Al-Kholood Club () is a Saudi Arabian football club based in Ar Rass Rass (also spelled Ar Rass, or Al-Ras; ar, الرس) is a Saudi Arabian City, located in Al Qassim Province. It lies southwest of Buraydah, the capital of the province an ...

Personal life

Taira's father,

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, was also a footballer and a midfielder. He appeared in more than 100 games in the Portuguese top tier, and also spent six years in Spain, representing mainly

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taira, Afonso 1992 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Cascais Men's association football midfielders Segunda División players Córdoba CF players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Atlético Clube de Portugal players G.D. Estoril Praia players B-SAD players Casa Pia A.C. players Israeli Premier League players Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Liga I players FC Hermannstadt players Saudi First Division League players Al-Kholood Club players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Israel Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia