Alfa Semedo Esteves (born 30 August 1997) is a Guinea-Bissauan

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

footballer 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 the Saudi Arabian club Al-Tai and the Guinea-Bissau national team.

Club career

Born in

Bissau Bissau () is the capital, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. Bissau had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and m ...

, Semedo started playing football at the local club Fidjus di Bideras. In 2014, aged 16, he moved to Portugal and joined the Benfica youth system. After playing two years for their juniors team, he was loaned out to Vilafranquense in Campeonato de Portugal for one season. On 8 July 2017, he signed a four-year contract with

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

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, ...

, with whom he would make his professional debut in a

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

match against Desportivo das Aves on 30 July that year. Following his return to Benfica in July 2018 for €2.5 million, Semedo debuted for the first team in a 3–2 home win over

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

on 10 August. Later, on 2 October, he made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

debut, scoring his first and winning goal for Benfica in a 3–2 away victory over

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

in the UEFA Champions League group stage, thus ending the former's eight-match losing streak in the competition's group stage. On 31 January 2019, Semedo was loaned out to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

until June. On 8 July, he joined English club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on a season-long loan, along with Benfica teammate

Yuri Ribeiro Yuri Oliveira Ribeiro (born 24 January 1997) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left-back or wing-back for Polish club Legia Warsaw. Club career Benfica Born in Switzerland to Portuguese migrant parents, Ribeiro moved to ...

(the latter on a permanent transfer). He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 away win over

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

on 14 September 2019. Semedo 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 a season-long loan for the 2020–21 season. He made his debut in a 1–0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers on 20 October 2020. He scored his first goal for Reading in a 2–1 win over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

on 26 December 2020. On 10 August 2022, Semedo joined

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

club Al-Tai on a three-year deal.

International career

He made his debut for

Guinea-Bissau national football team The Guinea-Bissau national football team (Portuguese language, Portuguese: Seleção nacional de futebol da Guiné-Bissau) represents Guinea-Bissau in men's international association football and it is controlled by the Football Federation of Gu ...

on 26 March 2021 in an AFCON 2021 qualifier against Eswatini and scored the team's second goal in a 3–1 win.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Guinea-Bissau's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Semedo goal.''

Honours

Benfica *

: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Semedo, Alfa 1997 births Living people Footballers from Bissau Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Primeira Liga players La Liga players English Football League players Saudi Pro League players S.L. Benfica footballers Moreirense F.C. players RCD Espanyol footballers Nottingham Forest F.C. players Reading F.C. players Al-Tai FC players Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in England Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players