Jorge Djaniny Tavares Semedo (born 21 March 1991), known as Djaniny, is a Cape Verdean 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 for Turkish club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

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 ...

Club career

União Leiria

Born in Santa Cruz, Djaniny arrived in

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 the age of 18 to study

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a Orders of magnitude (time), human timescale. It includes sources such as Solar power, sunlight, wind power, wind, the movement of Hydropo ...

, immediately starting playing football with

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

-based Grupo Desportivo Velense, a regional league club from

Angra do Heroísmo Angra do Heroísmo (), or simply Angra, is a city and municipality on Terceira Island, Portugal, and one of the three capital cities of the Azores. Founded in 1478, Angra was historically the most important city in the Azores, as seat of the Roma ...

. On 18 July 2011, after scoring 50 goals in two seasons, the 20-year-old moved straight into 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, ...

, signing for three years with

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

. He made his competitive debut on 21 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 away loss against

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

. Djaniny scored his first goal as a professional on 30 October 2011, in the 2–0 home win over

Vitória de Setúbal 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 ...

. The following matchday he added another, in a 3–1 defeat at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

Benfica

Djaniny agreed terms with

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

in January 2012, being assigned to the resurrected

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

which competed in the Segunda Liga in the 2012–13 campaign. On 31 August he moved teams again, being loaned to top division side

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 ...

for one year. Djaniny failed to find the net in nine starts for 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 ...

team, who avoided relegation by one point.

Nacional

On 16 July 2013, Djaniny terminated his contract with Benfica and signed a permanent deal with

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

also in the top flight. He scored eight goals in all competitions in his only season in

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, including one in 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 ...

against

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 ...

( 2–2 group stage draw) and another in the league against Benfica (2–4 home loss).

Santos Laguna

Djaniny moved to Mexican club

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

on 24 June 2014, reuniting with his former Leiria coach

Pedro Caixinha Pedro Miguel Faria Caixinha (; born 15 November 1970) is a Portuguese professional football manager, currently in charge of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Red Bull Bragantino. He started coaching in his late twenties, acting an assistant w ...

. He scored his first goal in the

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

on 10 August, but in a 3–2 defeat to

Querétaro F.C. Querétaro Fútbol Club, also called ''Gallos Blancos de Querétaro'', is a Mexican professional football club based in Querétaro City. Querétaro plays in the Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system. Their colors are blue, ...

at the

Estadio Corona The Estadio Corona is a stadium in Torreón, Coahuila, México, and the home stadium of Santos Laguna of Liga MX. History It was completed in 2009, it has a standard capacity of 30,000, with 20,000 for special events. The stadium's total cost ...

. In the 2018 Clausura, Djaniny netted 14 times to help his team be crowned national champions for the sixth time in their history. In the process, he became the first African player to win the competition's top scorer award.

Al-Ahli

On 13 July 2018, Djaniny signed with

Al-Ahli Saudi FC Al-Ahli Saudi Football Club ( ar, النادي الأهلي السعودي) is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Jeddah, that competes in the second division of Saudi Arabian football, following their relegation from the Saud ...

who paid his release clause. On 11 January of the following year, he scored all of his team's goals as they defeated

Ohod Club Ohod Club () is a Saudi Arabian professional football club based in Medina, which competes in the First Division League, the second tier of Saudi football. Ohod was named after Mount Uhud, hence the nickname "Al-Jabal". Ohod have won the Sau ...

5–1.

Trabzonspor

Djaniny joined

on a three-year contract on 4 October 2020. The following 27 January, he opened the 2–1 victory over

İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. İstanbul Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü () is a Turkish professional football club based in the Başakşehir district of Istanbul. The club is better known simply as İstanbul Başakşehir or, due to sponsorship, Medipol Başakşehir (). The club ...

in the

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known a ...

. In the 2021–22 campaign, Djaniny was an integral part of the squad that secured the club's first

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

title in 38 years.

International career

Djaniny received his first call-up for

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

in late 2011. He scored his first international goal in a

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

against

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, on 16 June of the following year.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Cape Verde score listed first, score column indicates score after each Djaniny goal''

Honours

Santos Laguna *

: Clausura 2015, Clausura 2018 *

Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

: Apertura 2014 *

Campeón de Campeones ''Campeón de Campeones'' ( es, Champion of Champions) is an annual Mexican football competition established in 1942. In its current form, the winner of the Apertura season faces the winner of the Clausura season, for both Liga MX and Liga MX Feme ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Trabzonspor *

: 2021–22 *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual *Liga MX top scorer: Clausura 2018 *

Saudi Professional 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 ...

Player of the Month: January 2019

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Djaniny 1991 births Living people Cape Verdean footballers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players U.D. Leiria players S.L. Benfica B players S.C. Olhanense players C.D. Nacional players Liga MX players Santos Laguna footballers Saudi Professional League players Al-Ahli Saudi FC players Süper Lig players Trabzonspor footballers Cape Verde international footballers 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Cape Verdean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in Turkey Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey