Gonçalo Bento Soares Cardoso (born 21 October 2000) 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 le ...

who plays as a

centre-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 ...

for

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

club

Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv 1929 ( bg, Локомотив 1929) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refou ...

Career

Boavista

On 7 October 2018, Cardoso made his professional debut with Boavista in a

2018–19 Primeira Liga The 2018–19 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 85th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. Porto were the defending champions but finished behind ...

match against Desportivo das Aves, starting in the 1–0 home win. He was the second youngest player ever to play for the club, surpassing club legends such as

Nuno Gomes Nuno Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro (born 5 July 1976), known as Nuno Gomes, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was given the nickname ''Gomes'' during childhood after Fernando Gomes, and was regarded ...

and

João Vieira Pinto João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below. Kings * Jo ...

West Ham United

In August 2019, he joined

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee. During the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons, Cardoso only featured for the U23's at West Ham playing regularly in the

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

and three appearances in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

Basel

On 30 January 2021, Cardoso signed for

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

side

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

on an 18-month loan deal with an option to buy. Basel confirmed the loan on the same day and Cardoso joined Basel's first team for the second half of their 2020–21 season under head coach

Ciriaco Sforza Ciriaco Sforza (; born 2 March 1970) is a Swiss football manager and former professional player who last managed Swiss Super League club Basel. After beginning his career with Swiss clubs FC Aarau and Grasshopper Club Zürich, he most notably p ...

. He played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Letzigrund is a stadium in Zürich, Switzerland, and the home of the athletics club LC Zürich, and the football clubs FC Zürich and Grasshopper Club Zürich. LC Zürich is a spin-off of FC Zürich whose members constructed the stadium in 1925. Grasshopper ...

on 14 February 2021 as Basel were defeated 0–2 by

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. He scored his first goal for the club just three days later on 17 February in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several important matches, inc ...

as Basel were beaten 2–6 by

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

. During a training in March Cardoso injured himself and could not play for the rest of the season. At the beginning of the following season he played in five test games and made an 90 minute appearance in a

match. However the injury re-occurred and the loan contract was dissolved a few months later. During his short period with the club, Cardoso played a total of 13 games for Basel scoring the afore mentioned one goal. Five of these games were in the

, two in the

and six were friendly games.

Real Betis

On 20 January 2022, Cardoso moved on a new loan to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

in Spain and was assigned to the B-team.

Marítimo

On 1 September 2022, Cardoso returned to Portugal to sign for

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

Lokomotiv Sofia

On 29 September 2023, Cardoso signed for

club

International career

On 17 November 2018, Cardoso made his Portugal U19 debut in an international friendly against Armenia U19. He also helped his side get the final of the

2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (68th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth footb ...

scoring in Portugal's opening group stage fixture against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and while he played in every minute of the campaign for his side, they eventually lost to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the final. Cardoso also made five appearances for Portugal U20 in the

2019–20 Under 20 Elite League The 2019–20 Under 20 Elite League is an age-restricted association football tournament for national Under-20 teams. It was the third edition of the Under 20 Elite League but was ultimately curtailed after the 5th round of games in November 201 ...

before it was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardoso, Gonçalo 2000 births Living people People from Marco de Canaveses Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football central defenders Boavista F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players FC Basel players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers C.S. Marítimo players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players Primeira Liga players Swiss Super League players Primera Federación players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Footballers from Porto District