Gonçalo José Gonçalves dos Santos (born 15 November 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 ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is currently assistant

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

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 ...

club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. He spent most of his career in two spells at

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has host ...

, making 72

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, ...

appearances for that club, Académica and

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. He added 106 in the second tier for four teams, winning the 2012 title with Estoril. Abroad, he won two consecutive

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

doubles with

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in Croatia.

Playing career

Early years

Born in

Lamego Lamego (; cel-x-proto, Lamecum) is a city and municipality in the Viseu District, in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of the Douro Subregion, Douro in northern Portugal. Located on the shores of the Balsemão River, the municipality has a ...

Viseu District The District of Viseu ( pt, Distrito de Viseu ) is located in the Central Inland of Portugal, the District Capital is the city of Viseu. Municipalities The district is composed by 24 municipalities: * Armamar * Carregal do Sal * Castro Daire * ...

, Santos completed his development at Académica de Coimbra, where he made three

appearances in February 2009. He also had loans at G.D. Tourizense in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

and

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

and

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

the second ''The Second'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf, released in October 1968 on ABC Dunhill Records. The album contains one of Steppenwolf's most famous songs, " Magic Carpet Ride". The background of the origin ...

. Santos joined

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 ...

in July 2011. He played 28 matches – all starts – as they won the second tier, scoring once for the game's only at

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Est ...

on 26 February 2012. The following 6 January, he scored his only goal in his country's top flight, consolation in a 1–3 home loss against

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 ...

Dinamo Zagreb

On 23 June 2014, Santos signed a three-year contract at

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in the

Croatian Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

. He made his debut on 11 July in the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

, a 2–1 defeat to

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

in which he was

substituted A substitution reaction (also known as single displacement reaction or single substitution reaction) is a chemical reaction during which one functional group in a chemical compound is replaced by another functional group. Substitution reactions ar ...

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

for

Marcelo Brozović Marcelo Brozović (; born 16 November 1992) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Inter Milan and the Croatia national team. He represented his nation at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 editions of the FIFA ...

; he won the league and

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

in each of his first two seasons, but played in neither cup final.

Return to Portugal

In June 2017, Santos returned to his country's top flight with Aves. The following 27 January, after only four competitive appearances, he went back to Estoril. Having been relegated in his first season back, he scored his first goal in over six years on 29 January 2019, opening a 2–1 win over

S.C. Braga B Sporting Clube de Braga B, commonly known as Sporting de Braga B or just Braga B, is a Portuguese association football, football team. It is the reserve team of S.C. Braga. Reserve teams in Portugal play in the same league system as the senior te ...

at the

Estádio António Coimbra da Mota Estadio António Coimbra da Mota is a multi-use stadium in Estoril, Portugal. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Primeira Liga side G.D. Estoril Praia. The stadium has a capacity to hold 8,000 spectators. ...

; he served as club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. After a brief spell at

Ethnikos Achna FC Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club currentl ...

of the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, Santos returned to Portugal's second tier on 27 January 2021, signing an 18-month deal at

U.D. Vilafranquense União Desportiva Vilafranquense is a Portuguese football club from Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of the Portuguese football league system, following its promotion in 2019. The oth ...

. He retired at the end of the campaign, however, aged 34.

Coaching career

Santos started working as an assistant manager at Liga 3 club Real SC. He returned to Estoril in summer 2022, taking charge of their under-19 side. For 2023–24, Santos joined top-division

Casa Pia A.C. Casa Pia Atlético Clube is a Portuguese multi-sports founded in 1920 and based in Lisbon, Portugal, best-known for its football team, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after Casa Pia, a Portuguese children's charity, and many ...

as an assistant. On 16 February 2024, following the sacking of Pedro Moreira, he was appointed their head coach as they sat 16th in the league table. Three months later, having finally finished ninth, he announced his decision to leave. In July 2024, Santos reunited with his former Estoril boss

Marco Silva Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva (; born 12 July 1977) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of club Fulham. He played for a variety of Portuguese clubs, finishing his career with a six-year spell at ...

side

, as assistant.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Estoril *

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG 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 Prim ...

: 2011–12 Dinamo Zagreb *

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Croatian Football Cup The Hrvatski nogometni kup ( eng, Croatian football cup), also colloquially known as Rabuzinovo sunce (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after th ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Goncalo 1986 births Living people People from Lamego Portuguese men's footballers Sportspeople from Viseu District Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Académica de Coimbra (football) players G.D. Tourizense players C.D. Santa Clara players C.D. Aves players G.D. Estoril Praia players U.D. Vilafranquense players Croatian Football League players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Cypriot First Division players Ethnikos Achna FC players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Association football coaches Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Casa Pia A.C. managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England