Fábio Daniel Soares Silva (born 19 July 2002) 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 lea ...

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) ** Smal ...

for club

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

, on loan from club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, and the Portugal national team. Silva made his professional debut for

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in August 2019, and set several club records relating to his young age, while winning the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

and

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

in his only season. He then signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers for a club-record fee, and was loaned to

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and Las Palmas, winning the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

with PSV in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. Having represented the country since under-15 level in 2017, Silva made his senior international debut for Portugal in 2024.

Club career

Early career

Born in Gondomar,

Porto District The Districts of Portugal, District of Porto ( ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro (district), Aveiro and Viseu (distric ...

, Silva began his career at

before transferring to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Benfica in 2015, then returning two years later. Silva was part of the squad that won the

2018–19 UEFA Youth League The 2018–19 UEFA Youth League was the sixth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played on 29 April 2019 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, between English sid ...

. With 20 goals in 26 games for the under-19 team by February 2019, he was called up by manager

Sérgio Conceição Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição (; born 15 November 1974) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who mostly played as a right winger. Throughout his career, he played for ten teams in five countries. After gain ...

to train with the first team.

Porto

He made his

debut for Porto on 10 August 2019 in a 2–1 loss at

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

, playing the final eleven minutes in place of Otávio; at 17 years and 22 days, he surpassed

Bruno Gama Bruno Alexandre Vilela Gama (born 15 November 1987) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a right winger. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 129 matches and 11 goals over seven seasons, mainly representing Vitória de Setúbal a ...

as the youngest league player in the club's history. On 19 September against Young Boys in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

group stage, he became the club's youngest player in European competitions, beating Rúben Neves. Six days later, he became the club's youngest starter in any competition when he lined up against Santa Clara in the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

group stage, beating a record held by Serafim Pereira since 1960. On 19 October, Silva scored his first goal to conclude a 5–0 win at neighbouring Coimbrões in the third round of the

; with this goal he surpassed Neves as the youngest goalscorer in the club's history, by a month. Eight days later, he beat the same player's record as Porto's youngest league goalscorer in a 3–0 home win over Famalicão. On 10 November, in a 1–0 win at Boavista in the ''Derby da Invicta'', he became the youngest league starter in the club's history, a record held since Serafim's days. On 9 February 2020, Silva dropped into Porto's reserve team in

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super 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 ...

, debuting as a starter in a 1–1 home draw with Farense, as one of three appearances at this level. He made two further appearances for Porto's first team following the resumption of the league after the coronavirus-enforced shutdown as the club won the league title.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 5 September 2020, Silva moved to English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

in a five-year deal for a club record fee of a reported £35 million. He made his full club debut on 17 September 2020 in an

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

defeat to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

; four days later he made his Premier League debut as a second-half substitute in a 3–1 home loss to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Silva scored his first two goals in a Wolves shirt for the under-21 team in a 2–1 away win over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

on 10 November 2020. His first league start was in a 1–0 home defeat against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on 12 December, and eight days later he scored his first league goal through a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in a 2–1 away loss against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. On 16 January 2021, Silva scored his first goal from open play and his first goal at Molineux for Wolves against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

in the first

Black Country derby The Black Country derby is the name given to any local derby between England, English association football, football teams West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Bromwich Albion, Walsall F.C, Walsall and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverhampton Wan ...

of the 2020–21 season. Silva made his first start for Wolves in the

2021–22 Premier League The 2021–22 Premier League was the 30th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992, and the 123rd season of top-flight English football overall. The start a ...

season in a 2–1 away win over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on 22 January 2022, due to

Raúl Jiménez Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez (; born 5 May 1991) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Fulham and the Mexico national team. Jiménez began his career in Club América's youth system before debuting in the ...

missing the game through injury. Silva scored his first goal for Wolves since 3 May 2021 in a home

game against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

on 29 August 2023, a match that Wolves went on to win 5–0.

Loans

On 19 July 2022, Silva joined Belgian club

on a season-long loan, as well as signing a contract extension with Wolves until 2026 with the option of a further year. Five days later, he scored on his

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

debut against Oostende after coming off the bench in a 2–0 win; he finished his spell in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

with 32 games and 11 goals in all competitions. The agreement with Anderlecht was terminated on 25 January 2023 and Silva was loaned out to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side

until the end of the season. On 30 April, in the final of the

, he came on for

Luuk de Jong Luuk de Jong (; born 27 August 1990) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker and Captain (association football), captains club PSV Eindhoven. De Jong previously played fo ...

at half time of extra time in a 1–1 draw with

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

; he then scored the winner in the penalty shootout. Silva ended his spell under manager

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (; born 1 July 1976), commonly known as Ruud van Nistelrooy (), is a Dutch professional Association football, football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship club Leic ...

with 19 games and 5 goals. On 1 January 2024, Wolverhampton sent Silva on loan to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

until the end of the 2023–24 season; he was the first signing by

Philippe Clement Philippe Clement (born 22 March 1974) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Rangers. He began his professional career at Belgian clubs Beerschot and Genk be ...

. He made his debut against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

as a second-half substitute the following day. Silva scored his first goal for Rangers in a 3–0 home victory over

Livingston Livingston or Livingstonemay refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North Am ...

on 3 February. Silva joined

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

on a one-year loan deal on 30 August 2024. Three months later he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory away to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, defeating the league leaders at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

during their 125th anniversary celebrations.

International career

Silva had his first international experience with Portugal's under-15 team in 2017. He was part of the under-17 team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 UEFA European Championship in the Republic of Ireland, scoring in a 4–2 group win over

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. On 11 October 2019, Silva scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for the under-19s in a 4–1 friendly win over

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Bragança Bragança may refer to: People *Jaime Celestino Dias Bragança, a Portuguese footballer Politics and History *House of Bragança - A Portuguese Royal House *Duke of Bragança - A Portuguese noble, and later royal, title * Bragança - One of the m ...

. In November 2024, having scored three goals on loan at Las Palmas, Silva was called up by senior international manager

Roberto Martínez Roberto Martínez Montoliu (; born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Portugal national team. Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Re ...

for a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, with

Pedro Neto Pedro Lomba Neto (; born 9 March 2000) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Chelsea and the Portugal national team. He started his career at Braga, who loaned him to Italian club Lazio in the summer of 201 ...

having returned to Chelsea after helping the country qualify for the quarter-finals. He debuted on 18 November in the 1–1 away draw, and Martínez praised him as offering a different style of play to

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

Diogo Jota Diogo José Teixeira da Silva (born 4 December 1996), known as Diogo Jota, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for club Liverpool and the Portugal national team. Jota is known for his clinical finis ...

Gonçalo Ramos Gonçalo Matias Ramos (; born 20 June 2001) is a Portuguese professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), striker for club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain and the Portugal national fo ...

Personal life

Silva's father

Jorge Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese . It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios ...

was a defensive midfielder who won the league in 2001 for Boavista and was capped twice by Portugal, and his older brother also named Jorge played that position for

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Porto Youth *

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 under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

: 2018–19 Porto *

: 2019–20 *

: 2019–20 PSV *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Portugal U16 *

Montaigu Tournament The Montaigu Tournament () is an international association football competition that is contested by under-16 national teams and clubs. The tournament is also known as Mondial Minimes. The games are held in stadiums located in the Vendée depart ...

: 2017, 2018 Individual * La Liga U23 Player of the Month: November 2024, April 2025

References

External links

* * *
Fábio Silva
at TBPlayers.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Fabio 2002 births Living people Footballers from Gondomar, Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Scottish Professional Football League players FC Porto players FC Porto B players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players PSV Eindhoven players Rangers F.C. players UD Las Palmas players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Spain 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen