Jonas Asvedo Mendes (born 20 November 1989) is a Bissau-Guinean 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Greek Super League 2 club

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

. Raised in Portugal, he played three

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, ...

games for

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

, and 30 in the second tier for

Atlético CP Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

and Académico Viseu, while spending most of his career in the third division. A full international with over 51

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

since 2010, he represented the country at the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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 ...

, and raised in Quinta da Princesa,

Seixal Seixal () is a Portugal, Portuguese city and municipality, located in the district of Setúbal District, Setúbal, in the metropolitan area of Lisbon region, Lisbon. Its population includes 184,269 inhabitants (2011), in an area of that includes ...

, Mendes began his career in Portugal's lower leagues with

Amora F.C. Amora Futebol Clube, commonly known as simply as Amora, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Amora, Setúbal. The club was founded on the 1 May 1921 and its founders were Mário de Carvalho, Guilherme Pestana, João Baptista, Julião Ga ...

and joined

club

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

in 2011. Due to

Rui Rêgo Rui Manuel Castanheira do Rêgo (born 5 July 1980 in Mujães, Viana do Castelo) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goalt ...

's injury, he played three games in January 2012, starting with a 2–1 loss at

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

. Mendes moved in 2013 to

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

of the Segunda Liga, where he was rarely used. In the ensuing years, he played in the third-tier Campeonato de Portugal for

SC Vianense Sport Clube Vianense ''(abbreviated as SC Vianense)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Viana do Castelo in the district of Viana do Castelo. SC Vianense currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal. The club was founded in 1898 and is o ...

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese football club based in Vizela, Braga District. Founded in 1939, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal Bwin, holding home games at the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Vizela, with a capacity for 6,100 spect ...

and

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Founded on 8 December 1911, in the parish of Paranhos, it is mostly known f ...

. He won promotion with Vizela in 2016, though not as first choice. In June 2017, Mendes returned to the second division with Académico de Viseu FC. He played the majority of games in his second season, after the exit of Brazilian veteran

Peterson Peçanha Peterson dos Santos Peçanha (born 11 January 1980) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is a manager. Playing career Born in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Peçanha began his career with Clube de Regat ...

. Mendes left Portugal for the first time in his career in July 2019, to join

Black Leopards F.C. Black Leopards FC is a South African association football, football club based in Thohoyandou, Vhembe, Vhembe Region, Limpopo that plays in the National First Division. History The club was founded in 1983 by business people in the Vhembe Regi ...

of the

South African Premier Division The South African Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is the premier men's professional football/soccer league and the highest division in the league system of South Africa, organized sinc ...

. He left two years later at the end of his contract, having turned down a deal to carry on after relegation for the sake of his international prospects.

International career

Mendes made his international debut for

on 16 November 2010 in a 2–1 friendly loss to

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

at the ''

Estádio do Restelo The Estádio do Restelo is a multi-purpose stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. The stadium has a capacity of 19,856 people and was built in 1956, in an old stone quarry. It is situated behind the Jerónimos Monastery in the Lisbon parish of Belém. I ...

'' in

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 ...

. He was called up for the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

in Gabon and the 2019 edition in Egypt, and played all three games of both group-stage eliminations, as well as being picked for the 2021 tournament.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Jonas 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Bissau People from Seixal Association football goalkeepers Bissau-Guinean footballers Guinea-Bissau international footballers 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Amora F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players Atlético Clube de Portugal players SC Vianense players S.C. Salgueiros players Académico de Viseu F.C. players Black Leopards F.C. players A.P.S. Zakynthos players kalamata F.C. players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players South African Premier Division players Bissau-Guinean expatriate footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate soccer players in South Africa 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players