André Filipe Claro de Jesus (born 31 March 1991), known as Claro, 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 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

SC São João de Ver SC São João de Ver is a professional association football club based in the parish of São João de Ver, municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, District of Aveiro Portugal. The team competes in Liga 3, the third tier of the Portuguese footba ...

Club career

Born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto District, Claro arrived in

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

's youth system in 2004, aged 13. He went on to progress through every youth rank at the club, being occasionally summoned to the first team for training. Released by the ''Dragons'' in the summer of 2010, Claro signed for

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

in the

fourth division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

, scoring 14 goals in 32 matches in his first season which ended in promotion to the third tier. He added ten in 30 the following campaign. Claro joined

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a football club based in Arouca, Porto Metropolitan Area, Portugal. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,000-seat capacity. History Founde ...

of the Segunda Liga for

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 ...

, scoring in only his second game in the competition, a 3–0 away win against

F.C. Penafiel Futebol Clube de Penafiel ( or ) is a Portuguese Association football, football club founded on 8 February 1951 and based in the city of Penafiel, Portugal, Penafiel. Brief history Penafiel first reached the Portuguese Liga, first division in Po ...

on 22 August 2012. He contributed 31 appearances and four goals, as the team promoted to the

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, ...

for the first time in their history. He made his debut in the competition on 18 August 2013 by coming on as a late substitute in a 5–1 away loss to Sporting CP, and scored for the first time on 22 December that year in a 3–0 away defeat of

Gil Vicente F.C. Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

where he netted a brace. On 13 July 2015, after his contract expired, Claro signed a two-year deal with

Vitória F.C. Vitória Futebol Clube is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Setúbal. Popularly known as Vitória de Setúbal (), the club was born under the original name Sport Victoria from the ashes of the small Bonfim Foot-Ball Club. When it comes ...

also in the top flight. He scored a career-best (at the professional level) 12 goals in his first season, as they narrowly avoided relegation; this included two in the 3–1 victory at

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

on 20 December. After further spells in the main division with

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 ...

and

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

, Claro resumed his career in the second tier with Académica de Coimbra,

Leixões SC The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club The Port of Leixões ( pt, P ...

U.D. Vilafranquense União Desportiva Vilafranquense is a Portuguese football club from Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of the Portuguese football league system, following its promotion in 2019. The oth ...

and Académico de Viseu FC. He then moved to the Moroccan

Botola The Botola Pro ( ar, البطولة الاحترافية, translit=al-buṭūla l-iḥtirāfiyya), is a Moroccan professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Moroccan football league system, it is the country's prima ...

with Union de Touarga.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Claro, Andre 1991 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Vila Nova de Gaia Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players FC Porto players Padroense F.C. players F.C. Famalicão players F.C. Arouca players Vitória F.C. players G.D. Estoril Praia players Boavista F.C. players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Leixões S.C. players U.D. Vilafranquense players Académico de Viseu F.C. players SC São João de Ver players Botola players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Morocco Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Morocco