Nélson Gil de Almeida Gomes (born 2 December 1972), known as Gil, is a Portuguese former

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 played 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 ...

Football career

Born in

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

Portuguese Angola Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa). I ...

, Gil moved to Portugal at a young age, joining

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 system at the age of 14. He excelled at the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship with the Portuguese under-20 team, scoring one goal in five matches as the tournament ended in victory. At senior level, however, his

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, ...

input consisted of 30 games over two seasons, not being able to find the net with

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

and C.F. Estrela da Amadora. After leaving his adopted nation in 1995 and until his retirement ten years later – he had already had an abroad spell with

Tours FC Tours Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tours (), is a French association football club based in Tours, the capital city of the Indre-et-Loire department. The club was formed in 1919 and currently play at the fifth level of French ...

in France – Gil played all but exclusively in lower league and amateur football. In his last six seasons he competed in England, representing Welwitchia,

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

, Middlewich Town, Salford City,

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England. Formed in 1919, they were renamed Hyde F.C. between 2010 and 2015 as part of a sponsorship deal with Manchester City.Angel Gomes Adilson Angel Abreu de Almeida Gomes (born 31 August 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lille and the England under-21 national team. He began his career with Manchester United at the age ...

, was born in England while his father was playing there, and represented both

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

and England at youth level.England U16s squad named for Nike Tournament in USA

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

, 3 November 2015

Honours

Portugal *

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain national under ...

: 1989 *

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gil Gomes 1972 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent Angolan emigrants to Portugal Sportspeople from Luanda Portuguese footballers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players A.D. Ovarense players S.C. Braga players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Ligue 2 players Tours FC players Swiss Challenge League players Yverdon-Sport FC players FC Wil players Serie C players U.S. Avellino 1912 players Hendon F.C. players Middlewich Town F.C. players Salford City F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Association football coaches