Andreia Alexandra Norton (born 15 August 1996) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Benfica in the

Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino The Campeonato Nacional Feminino (English: Women's National Championship), also known as Liga BPI for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier women's association football league in Portugal. It is run by the Portuguese Football Federation and began ...

. She first played for her country in an under nineteen match in 2012 and debuted for the senior team four years later.

Career

Club

Norton started to play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

at the age of two in her native city. When Norton was seven, she went to play for the "Furadouro Sports Club", an amateur club in

Ovar Ovar ( or ) is a city and a municipality in Aveiro District, Baixo Vouga Subregion in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,398, in an area of 147.70 km2. It had 42,582 eligible voters (2006). The municipality includes two cities: Ovar (1 ...

, where she was the only girl in the team. She used to play as a defender, then she started to play in the

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

and finally settled down as a forward. At the age of 12, she was forced to leave the team, because Portuguese law forbids mixed teams above the age of 12. In 2009, aged 13, Norton went to play for

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Est ...

, at that time a team playing in the

Portuguese First Division 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, ...

. Due to her young age she only played a few matches, but scored a goal against

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as Leixões (), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well kno ...

U.D. Oliveirense was relegated that season, and later folded. Like most players from Oliveirense, she went to

F.C. Cesarense Futebol Clube Cesarense ''(abbreviated as FC Cesarense)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Cesar, Oliveira de Azeméis in the district of Aveiro. Background FC Cesarense currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal which is the third t ...

, where she spent three years. In 2013, Norton signed with

Clube de Albergaria Clube de Albergaria is a Portuguese women's football team from Albergaria-a-Velha ( Aveiro District). Current squad * ''Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules As the governing body of association footbal ...

. There, she was twice voted the league's best player, at 17 and 18 years of age. In 2015, Norton was offered a contract with

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. In one of the final matches of the season, against Club de Albergaria, she suffered a serious injury in her left knee, which forced her to undergo surgery twice. As the contract with Barcelona was already signed, she went to

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

but was unable to play any matches for the club. After one year in Spain, she decided to return to Portugal and signed with

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese f ...

in order to get more playing time and therefore recover her previous form. On 19 March 2018 Norton was included by the "Quinas de Ouro" award among the "11 Best Players" in the Portuguese women's league. The award is annually organized by the

Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, Federação Portuguesa de Futebol; ) is the governing body of football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (UPF) by the three existing regional associations ...

together with the "Associação Nacional dos Treinadores de Futebol" and the "Sindicato dos Jogadores Profissionais de Futebol". In May 2018, German Frauen-Bundesliga club

SC Sand SC Sand is a German sport club from Willstätt, Baden-Württemberg. The club was founded on 11 August 1946 and competes in football, aerobics, judo and qigong. The club is most known for its women's football section which plays in the Bundesliga ...

announced that they had signed Norton. In August 2019, Italian club Inter Milan announced that they had signed Norton. On 13 February 2020 Portuguese club Sporting Clube de Braga announced the come back of Norton after her departure in 2018 after 2 years in the portuguese club. On 1 July 2022 Portuguese club Sport Lisboa e Benfica announced the signing of Norton with a contract until 2025.

International

Norton debuted for Portugal U19 in a match against Wales U19 on 13 March 2012. She was part of the team that reached the semi-finals in the

2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2012 Final Tournament was held in Antalya, Turkey between 2 and 14 July 2012. Players born after 1 January 1993 were eligible to participate in this competition. Tournament structure The regulations make up f ...

, when they lost 1–0 against Spain in the semi-finals. Norton played with the U19 team until 2015, recording 25

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with nine goals scored. On 15 October 2016, at the age of 20, Norton debuted for the Portuguese senior team in a

tie Tie has two principal meanings: * Tie (draw), a finish to a competition with identical results, particularly sports * Necktie, a long piece of cloth worn around the neck or shoulders Tie or TIE may also refer to: Engineering and technology * Ti ...

against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. In her debut she scored the goal that enabled Portugal to qualify for a European Women's Championship for the first time. , this is Norton's only international goal. On 6 July 2017

Francisco Neto Francisco Miguel Conceição Roque Neto (born 11 July 1981), known as Francisco Neto or simply Neto, is a Portuguese football manager, currently the head coach of the Portugal women's national football team The Portugal women's national footb ...

asked Norton to represent Portugal at the

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national team ...

. She did not play any matches as Portugal was eliminated in the group stage.

Personal life

Norton is the daughter of

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

Brazilian

, Valdecir Ribeiro da Silva (known as "Pingo"), who played for A.D. Ovarense in the 1995/1996 season. She never met her father, and was raised by her grandmother, aunt, and uncle.

Honours

Benfica * Supertaça de Portugal: 2022 Braga *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

: 2019–20 *

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 ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

* * *
Player's Profile at S.C. Braga
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Andreia 1996 births Living people

Andreia Norton Andreia Alexandra Norton (born 15 August 1996) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a forward for Benfica in the Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino. She first played for her country in an under nineteen match in 2012 and debuted for th ...

Women's association football forwards Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino players S.C. Braga (women's football) players FC Barcelona Femení players Primera División (women) players Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Frauen-Bundesliga players SC Sand players Inter Milan (women) players Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany People from Ovar Portuguese people of Brazilian descent Clube de Albergaria players Sportspeople from Aveiro District UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players