Cristian Ioan Ponde (born 26 January 1995) is a 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 Portuguese club

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

Club career

Born in Făurești,

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 ...

, Ponde emigrated to Portugal with his parents before his 10th birthday, and started playing football with

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

. In 2005, he joined Sporting CP to complete his development. Ponde made his senior debut with the club's reserves on 24 February 2013, coming on as a substitute for fellow youth graduate

Ricardo Esgaio Ricardo de Sousa Esgaio (; born 16 May 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Sporting CP as a right-back. Club career Sporting CP Born in Nazaré, Leiria District, Esgaio joined Sporting CP's youth system at the age of 12, ...

for the final 14 minutes of a 5–1 home win against

S.C. Freamunde Sport Clube Freamunde is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Freamunde, Paços de Ferreira. Founded on 19 March 1933, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at ...

in the Segunda Liga. He scored his first goal as a professional on 30 March of that year, but in a 1–3 home loss to S.L. Benfica B. On 2 March 2014, during a second-tier game against

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã, is Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the second-tier Liga Portugal 2. The club was founded in 1923. Their nickname is the ...

, Ponde contracted a serious injury to his right knee, going on to be sidelined for several months. His only competitive appearance for the first team took place on 21 January 2015, when he played three minutes in a 3–2 defeat at

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

in the group stage of the

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 ...

. For the 2016–17 season, Ponde was loaned to Covilhã. He then took his game to the Ukrainian Premier League, where he represented FC Karpaty Lviv after signing a three-year contract. He scored his first top-flight goal on 28 October 2018, contributing to the 5–0 away victory over FC Chornomorets Odesa. Ponde joined

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

on 25 August 2020, on a one-year deal. He returned to the Portuguese second division in summer 2021, agreeing to a one-year contract with the option of a further one at

. He scored six goals in the 2022–23 campaign, adding six assists in a return 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, ...

after a two-year absence. Ponde's first match in the top flight took place on 12 August 2023, replacing

Elves Baldé Elves Umar Baldé (born 2 October 1999) is a Bissau-Guinean born Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Farense as a winger. Football career On 14 August 2016 Elves made his professional debut with Sporting B starting in a 2015–16 ...

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

of a 0–3 home loss against

Casa Pia AC 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 ...

. He scored his first league goal the following 18 May, but in a 1–3 home defeat to

Portimonense S.C. Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional association football, football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

in the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

derby.

International career

Ponde represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at under-17, under-18 and under-19 levels. He scored in his first appearance for the latter side, a 1–1 draw against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

tournament held in Hungary.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponde, Cristian 1995 births Living people People from Maramureș County Portuguese people of Romanian descent Romanian emigrants to Portugal Naturalised citizens of Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Sporting CP B players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Covilhã players S.C. Farense players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Karpaty Lviv players Swiss Challenge League players Grasshopper Club Zürich players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland