Francisco 'Chico' Oliveira Geraldes (born 18 April 1995) 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 ...

who plays as an

attacking 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

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

club

Johor Darul Ta'zim Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional Association football, football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football ...

Club career

Born in Lisbon, Geraldes joined local

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 ...

's youth system in 2003, aged 8. On 30 March 2013, whilst still a junior, he made his professional debut with their reserves, playing one minute in a 3–1 home loss against

S.L. Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B", commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play in ...

in the Segunda Liga. Geraldes spent the first part of the 2016–17 season on loan to Primeira Liga team

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

, his maiden appearance in the competition taking place on 13 August 2016 in a 1–1 home draw with

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 ...

. His first goal came the following weekend, when he helped the visitors defeat C.D. Feirense 3–0 also as a starter. In late January 2017, both Geraldes and Daniel Podence were recalled from their loans by Sporting manager

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 1 ...

. He made his competitive debut for his parent club on 11 March, coming on as a late substitute in the 4–1 away win over

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 ...

. For 2017–18, still owned by Sporting, Geraldes signed with

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,5 ...

. The following campaign, in the same situation, he joined Germany's

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. Geraldes was loaned to

AEK Athens F.C. AEK FC ( el, ΠΑΕ A.E.K. ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos'', meaning ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filade ...

on 24 June 2019, with no purchase option included in the deal. On 21 August 2020, he returned to Rio Ave on a permanent three-year contract. On 1 October, he equalised an eventual 2–2 home draw against

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...

, and also converted his attempt in the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

loss in the

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. On 30 July 2021, after 38 official appearances at the

Estádio dos Arcos Estadio dos Arcos is a multi-use stadium in Vila do Conde, Portugal. It is used mostly for football matches of Primeira Liga club Rio Ave. The stadium is able to hold 12,815 people and was built in 1985. Since November 2020 it's only able to ...

(one goal), Geraldes signed a two-year deal with newly-promoted G.D. Estoril Praia. In August 2023, after it expired, he joined

Baniyas Club Baniyas Sports and Cultural Club is an Emirati Sports Club, based in Al Shamkha, in the Baniyas area of Abu Dhabi. The club competes in the UAE Pro-League. Presidency * SourcePresidency Honours President's Cup *Winners: 1991–92 Division O ...

in the

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al ...

on a contract of the same duration. On 6 January 2024, he left the latter by mutual agreement, moving to

Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Supe ...

from the

one week later.

International career

Geraldes won two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for Portugal at under-21 level. His first was on 6 October 2016, in a 3–3 draw in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

in the 2017 UEFA European Championship qualifiers where he provided an

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

to Podence. The following month, he featured in the 3–1 friendly win against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

Personal life

An avid reader, Geraldes listed George Orwell as his favourite author.

Career statistics

Honours

Moreirense * Taça da Liga: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geraldes, Francisco 1995 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Sporting CP B players Sporting CP footballers Moreirense F.C. players Rio Ave F.C. players G.D. Estoril Praia players Eintracht Frankfurt players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players UAE Pro League players Baniyas Club players Malaysia Super League players Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia