Valdomiro Tualungo Paulo Lameira (born 22 September 1995), known as Estrela, is an Angolan 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

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Erzurumspor F.K. Erzurumspor Futbol Kulübü, is a Turkish professional Association football, football club located in Erzurum who plays in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Turkish football. Founded in 2005, the colours of club are blue and white. The club start ...

and the Angola national team.

Club career

Estrela began his career in

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 ...

's youth squad in 2006, joining the under-19 squad in 2011. He was part of the squad that competed in the

2013–14 UEFA Youth League The 2013–14 UEFA Youth League was the first season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. It was contested by the under-19 youth teams of the 32 clubs qualified for the group stage of the 2013–14 ...

, including a match against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

under-19 in which he scored a goal. Benfica went on to be runners-up in the tournament, losing to the under-19 squad of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

0–3 in the final. He had signed a contract to stay with Benfica until 2020. On 8 July 2014, it was announced that he and teammate Rafael Ramos were transferred to

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

of the

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

, the third level of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

, on 3.5-year professional contracts as part of an affiliation between the two clubs. The players' contracts would see the two new signings finish out the

2014 USL Pro season The 2014 USL Pro season was the fourth USL Pro season and the 28th season of third-division soccer in the United States. Teams Antigua Barracuda FC and VSI Tampa Bay FC folded following the 2013 season and were replaced by Sacramento Republi ...

with the club before transitioning into

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

in 2015. He, along with Ramos, made his professional debut on 23 August 2014 in a league match against the

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

. In the 8th minute of the match, he volleyed a strike from outside of the box to also score his first goal for the club. The 3–2 victory was notable for Ramos also scoring his first goal for the club in his debut in addition to

Kevin Molino Kevin Reginald Molino (born 17 June 1990) is a Trinidadian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew and the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Club career Orlando City After playing for severa ...

breaking the single-season league goal scoring record. After the match, head coach

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He currently serves as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC. As a player, he is best known for his six seasons at Everton, where h ...

stated in regards to the two new players, "I thought that the two new players (Estrela and Ramos) were outstanding, considering that they haven't played for two or three weeks. Their contribution was massive..." He went on to make five league appearances for the club, scoring one goal, during the 2014 USL Pro season, Orlando City's last in the league before making the jump to Major League Soccer. The defender also started and played 90 minutes of Orlando's defeat to the

Harrisburg City Islanders Penn FC (formerly the Harrisburg City Islanders) was an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the United States soccer ...

in the first round of the playoffs which saw Orlando eliminated. Estrela was released by Orlando on 30 January 2016. On 1 February 2016, he joined Cypriot champions

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Estrela made his first and only appearance for APOEL on 27 February 2016, coming on as a 71st-minute substitute in his team's 3–0 home victory against

Ayia Napa Ayia Napa ( el, Άγια Νάπα tr, Aya Napa, ), officially romanised Agia Napa, is a tourist resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus. Etymology The name Ayia Napa is derived from a Venetian-era monastery of the same ...

for the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

. A few months after joining APOEL, he crowned champion for the first time in his career, as his team managed to win the

title for a fourth time in the row. On 10 August 2016, Estrela's contract with APOEL was mutually terminated. On 29 October 2016, he signed a contract until 2018 with Portuguese side

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football team based in Póvoa de Varzim, near Porto in the north of the country. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since it was founded. The club pl ...

from

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

. On 4 July 2019 he signed a 3-year contract with

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, ...

club

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

International career

He, along with Orlando teammate Ramos, was called to camp with the Portugal national under-20 team in October 2014, despite being born in Angola. The camp, which was his first international experience, was part of Portugal's preparation for the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

. On 22 September 2020, Estrela was called-up by the senior

Angola national football team The Angola national football team ( pt, Seleção nacional de futebol de Angola) represents Angola in men's international football and is controlled by the Angolan Football Federation. The team made its first appearance in 2006 FIFA World Cu ...

. He made his debut on 13 October 2020.

Honours

;Benfica *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

: Runner-up 2013–14 ;APOEL *

: 2015–16

Club career

International career

Honours

References

External links