Carlos Leonel Gois Fernandes (born 28 July 1987 in

Ribeira Brava, Madeira Ribeira Brava () is a municipality on the island of Madeira, in the Portuguese Autonomous Region of Madeira. It is located along the southern coast (approximately centre), and is west of Câmara de Lobos and the regional capital Funchal Fun ...

, Portugal), commonly known as Carlos Leonel, is a former football player and coach for

Benfica de Macau The House of Sport Lisboa e Benfica in Macau (), simply known as Benfica de Macau, is a Macau, Macanese professional association football, football team that currently competes in the Liga de Elite. They are the five-time champions of the leagu ...

. He was the top scorer in the 2016 and 2017

Liga de Elite Liga de Elite (), previously known as Campeonato da 1ª Divisão do Futebol, is the top division of the Macau Football Association, created in 1973. The league is featuring local players and professional foreign players. Due to the lack of footbal ...

. He also helped Benfica de Macau win the Liga de Elite from 2015 to 2018.

Club career

Early career

Leonel has been a football player since he was six-years old. He was in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, Brazil, doing an exchange program when

Carlos Vilar Carlos Vilar Castex (9 June 1930 – 29 June 2021) was an Argentinian sailor gold medallist in the Pan American Games and the Snipe World Championships. Biography Vilar was born in Buenos Aires. He started sailing Snipes with his brother, Jor ...

invited him to visit him in Macau and play for three months on Casa de Portugal in the

2ª Divisão de Macau Campeonato da 2ª Divisão do Futebol, is the second division of the Macau Football Association, created in 2005. As with the Hong Kong First Division League, it is separate from the mainland Chinese football league system, including the Chinese ...

Benfica de Macau

During the

2017 AFC Cup qualifying round The 2017 AFC Cup qualifying round was played from 19 to 25 August 2016. A total of nine teams competed in the qualifying round to decide three places in the qualifying play-offs of the 2017 AFC Cup. Teams The following nine teams from nine assoc ...

held at Bishkek in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

on 21 August 2016, Benfica de Macau played Rovers FC from

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, Leonel scored twice and Benfica de Macau won the match 4–2. On 4 March 2017, Leonel scored a hat-trick as Benfica de Macau beat C.D. Monte Carlo 6–0. On 7 March 2018, Benfica de Macau took part in the

2018 AFC Cup group stage The 2018 AFC Cup group stage was played from 10 February to 16 May 2018. A total of 36 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 11 places in the 2018 AFC Cup knockout stage, knockout stage of the 2018 AFC Cup. Draw The draw for the group st ...

. After losing two goals in the first half to Hang Yuen, Leonel scored in the 61st and 63rd minutes to help the club overturn the score and won 3–2. It was Benfica de Macau's first ever win in the AFC Cup group stage. Leonel was awarded player of the match. On 16 May, Benfica de Macau beat

Hwaebul Sports Club Hwaebul Sports Club is an association football club from Pochon, North Korea, founded in 2013. It is the sports club of the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League and is based at the 5,000 capacity Hwaebul Stadium. They are presently playing ...

with Leonel scoring a hat-trick on the final day of the group stage. Benfica de Macau finished the second in the group. On 14 January 2022, Benfica de Macau announced the retirement of Leonel as well as his appointment as the main coach.

International career

On 7 October 2016, Leonel was selected into the

Macau national football team The Macau national football team (; pt, Selecção Macaense de Futebol) represents the Chinese special administrative region of Macau in international association football. The team is supervised by the Macau Football Association (; Portugue ...

for the first time for the

Hong Kong–Macau Interport Hong Kong Macau Interport is an annual association football match between Hong Kong and Macau. The matches are hosted by the two alternatively each year. Results Winners Table See also * Hong Kong national football team results – unofficial ...

. On 5 September 2017, Leonel made his debut for Macau in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification Third Round against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, but Macau lost 0–2. On 2 October 2017, Macau played a friendly against Laos. At 72 minutes, Leonel scored with a header, then 2 minutes later he scored again and helped Macau overturn the score. In the end Macau won the match 3–1. On 14 November 2017, Macau played

, at 87 minutes CLeonel scored, but Macau lost 3–4.

International goals

:''Macau's goals are listed first''

Awards

*2016 Liga de Elite top scorer *2017 Liga de Elite top scorer *2021 Liga de Elite top scorer

References

External links

Carlos Leonel facebook pageCarlos Leonel Gois Fernandes
Eurosport player profile
Carlos Leonel
Futbal 365 player profile 1987 births Living people People from Ribeira Brava, Madeira Macau footballers Macau international footballers Association football forwards Liga de Elite players S.L. Benfica de Macau players {{Macau-footy-bio-stub