Gonçalo Jardim Brandão (born 9 October 1986) is a Portuguese former 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 ...

. Mainly a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he also appeared as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Belenenses

A product of hometown

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

' academy,

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

-born Brandão scored in his second match in 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, ...

aged 17, against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

in a 1–4 home loss on 18 October 2003 when he still had not finished his youth career. He only managed another seven first-team appearances over the next three seasons, with a loan to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in 2005–06 in between (no

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

games played). Brandão played his first league match after his Belenenses return on 4 February 2007, in a 1–0 away win over Vitória F.C. where he started.

Siena

In June 2008, it was announced Brandão had signed a four-year contract with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

's A.C. Siena. After a shaky start – he only made his league debut on 20 December in a 1–2 home defeat to

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

– he finished his first season as a starter. After the end of the 2009–10 campaign, Brandão was loaned to

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

for the United States tour along with

Albin Ekdal Albin Ekdal (; born 28 July 1989) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Spezia and the Sweden national team. Formed at IF Brommapojkarna, he has spent most of his career in Italy, where he has made over ...

(owned by ''Juve'' and loaned to Siena) and three other players.

Parma

On 22 June 2011, after contributing only two games to Siena's top-flight return, Brandão signed for

Parma F.C. Parma Calcio 1913 (), commonly known as Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. ''Parma Football Club'' was originally founded in Decembe ...

on loan. In the following summer, the clubs were involved in a player-only transaction which saw Parma sign Brandão,

Alessandro Iacobucci Alessandro Iacobucci (born 3 June 1991) is an Italian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Vicenza. Biography Youth career Born in Pescara, Abruzzo, Iacobucci started his career at home province club Renato Curi Angolana (located at Ci ...

Giuseppe Pacini Giuseppe Pacini (born 17 July 1992) is an Italian footballer. Biography Born in Civitanova Marche, Pacini started his career at Marina Picena, Porto Sant'Elpidio. In 2007, he was selected to Marche ''Giovanissimi'' U15 Representative Team for Cop ...

and Andrea Rossi, while Siena acquired

Manuel Coppola Manuel Coppola (born 11 May 1982) is an Italian former footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Early career Born in Rome, Lazio, Coppola started his professional career at Tivoli. In January 2004 he was signed by Messina, but spent the ...

Paolo Hernán Dellafiore Paolo Hernán Dellafiore (born 2 February 1985) is an Argentine-born Italian footballer, who plays as a central defender for Serie D club Mantova. Club career Internazionale Born in Buenos Aires to Italian parents, Dellafiore started his profe ...

, Abdou Doumbia and

Alberto Galuppo Alberto Galuppo (born 19 August 1985) is an Italian footballer who plays for Italian Serie D club Lentigione as a defender. Career Parma Born in Reggio Emilia, Galuppo started his professional career at Emilian club Parma F.C. Since 2005� ...

– both organisations also retained 50% registration rights on their players. Brandão left for

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

A.C. Cesena A.C. Cesena, commonly referred to as Cesena (), was an Italian football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. The club spent most of its history in professional leagues such as Serie A and Serie B, but went bankrupt and folded in 2018. Another ...

on 7 July 2012, as Marco Parolo moved to Parma in a temporary deal for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

1 million, with the latter side also being responsible of €1.8 million in wages.Parma F.C. SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2013
PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
(in Italian) In the ensuing off-season, still owned by both Parma and Siena, he signed for

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n club

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...

along with Denilson Gabionetta.

Belenenses return

On 6 January 2014, Brandão returned to Portugal and Belenenses in a temporary deal. On 20 June he was sold back to Siena, with Galuppo returning to Parma. However, the Italians declared their liquidation on 15 July as the club did not meet the financial requirements for the upcoming season, and the player re-joined Belenenses as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

International career

After having represented

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 every youth level, including the under-21s, Brandão made his debut for the full side on 31 March 2009, appearing as a left back in a 2–0 friendly victory against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Club statistics

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brandao, Goncalo 1986 births Living people Portuguese footballers Footballers from Lisbon Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.F. Os Belenenses players G.D. Estoril Praia players FC Porto B players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players Parma Calcio 1913 players A.C. Cesena players Liga I players CFR Cluj players Swiss Challenge League players FC Lausanne-Sport players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland