Herculano Bucancil Nabian (born 25 January 2004) is a 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

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 ...

for

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 ...

club

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

. Born in Guinea-Bissau, he is a youth international for Portugal.

Club career

Born in

Bissau Bissau () is the capital, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. Bissau had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and m ...

, Nabian was formed 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 ...

before joining

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 ...

in 2018. His tally of 51 goals in two years in their youth team earned attention from foreign teams, and in July 2020, he signed his first professional contract of three years with the option of one more, and a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

of €60 million. In the 2020–21 season, he took part with the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

in the third tier, scoring 7 goals in 21 games. This included a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on 3 April in a 5–1 win over the second team of

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

. On 26 July 2021, he made his first-team debut in the first round of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

in a 4–1 home win over

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as Leixões (), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well kno ...

as an 85th-minute substitute; he assisted the final goal by

Maga Maga or MAGA may refer to: MAGA * Make America Great Again, a political slogan famously used by Donald Trump * Museo MAGA, a modern-art museum in Gallarate, Italy * ''maga'', the logo of the Cornish Language Partnership, an organisation promot ...

. 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, ...

bow came on 8 August again as a late replacement at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, in a 1–0 loss to

Portimonense SC Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It a ...

. On 6 August 2022, Nabian joined

club

on loan. The Italian side paid a €150.000 loan fee and an option-to-buy was set at €450.000 plus €600.000 in future add-ons. In April 2023, Empoli decided to trigger the buy-clause, with Nabian signing a four-year contract.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nabian, Herculano 2004 births Living people Footballers from Bissau Bissau-Guinean emigrants to Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Black Portuguese sportspeople Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga 3 (Portugal) players Primeira Liga players Serie A players Vitória S.C. players Vitória S.C. B players Empoli FC players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Italy