Gonçalo do Lago Pontes Esteves (born 27 February 2004) 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

right-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

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

, on loan from

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 ...

Club career

Born in Aboim das Choças,

Arcos de Valdevez Arcos de Valdevez () is a concelho, municipality along the northern frontier of Portugal and Galicia (Spain), Galicia (Spain). The population in 2011 was 22,847,Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. He also spent time on a youth loan at

Padroense Padroense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese football club that competes in the Portuguese Second Division. They were founded in 1922. History The first field of Padroense F. C. was the "Saibreira" before moving to the "stray field" (what is now Hi ...

. Esteves signed for

from Porto in July 2021. He settled well at his new club, and within a week had impressed first-team manager

Rúben Amorim Rúben Filipe Marques Amorim (; born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Primeira Liga club Sporting CP. Amorim played in his career as a midfielder, spending most of ...

enough to secure a place in first team training. Following good performances for the

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 ...

side's B team, Esteves was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s "Next Generation" list for 2021. He scored his first goal for Sporting's B team in a 2–0 victory over

Cova da Piedade Cova da Piedade is a former civil parish in the municipality of Almada, Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Almada, Cova da Piedade, Pragal e Cacilhas. The population in 2011 was 19,904, in an area of ...

on 1 October 2021. Two weeks later, he made his first-team debut in the third round of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of 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 Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

, starting in a 4–0 win at

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 ...

. 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, ...

debut came on 18 December, again starting in a 3–0 win at Gil Vicente FC; he had been guaranteed his place by Amorim due to the absences of

Pedro Porro Pedro Antonio Porro Sauceda (; born 13 September 1999) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right back or right winger for club Tottenham Hotspur, on loan from Primeira Liga club Sporting CP, and the Spain national team. He sta ...

and

Ricardo Esgaio Ricardo de Sousa Esgaio (; born 16 May 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Sporting CP as a right-back. Club career Sporting CP Born in Nazaré, Leiria District, Esgaio joined Sporting CP's youth system at the age of 12, ...

through injury and

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

respectively. On 30 June 2022, Esteves was loaned to fellow top-flight team

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

for the upcoming season. In his second game on 14 August, he was sent off after an hour of a 1–0 loss at

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

. On 5 January 2024, Esteves joined

club

on loan until the end of the 2023–24 season, with an option to make the move permanent, reported to be €2 million.

International career

Esteves has represented Portugal at youth international level.

Personal life

Esteves' older brother, Tomás, is also a footballer who plays as a

Career statistics

Club

;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esteves, Gonçalo 2004 births Living people People from Arcos de Valdevez Footballers from Viana do Castelo District Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Sporting CP footballers Sporting CP B players G.D. Estoril Praia players AZ Alkmaar players Liga 3 (Portugal) players Primeira Liga players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands