Josué Humberto Gonçalves Leal de Sá (born 17 June 1992) 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

central defender 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

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

. He began his career 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 ...

. After a loan spell at Chaves he became a regular in the first team, playing 109 total games and scoring five goals. In August 2017, he joined Belgian club

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

for a fee of €2,2 million, being loaned to Kasımpaşa and

Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...

later on before being released. Sá represented Portugal at youth level.

Club career

Vitória Guimarães

Born 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 ...

, Sá spent nine of his formative years with local

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 ...

, signing with

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, commonly known as Vitória de Guimarães, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top-flight of football in Portugal. Vitória de Guimarães have finished t ...

at the age of 17. He started his senior career in 2011, being loaned by the latter to third division club

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese association football, football football team, club from Chaves, Portugal, Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Está ...

. Subsequently returned to

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

, Sá initially alternated between the first team and the recently created reserve side in the Segunda Liga. His first appearance in the

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, ...

with the former was on 20 January 2013, when he came on as a late substitute in a 3−1 away win against

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 ...

. Sá scored his first goal in the Portuguese top tier on 7 November 2014, in a 2−1 away victory over F.C. Arouca. He added another one during the season from 26 appearances, helping to an eventual fifth-place finish and

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. On 6 May 2016, Sá renewed his contract until 2019, with the release clause being improved from

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

3 to 8 million.

Anderlecht

Sá joined

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

on 31 August 2017, after agreeing to a four-year deal. He made his

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

debut on 1 October, playing the entire 1–0 home victory over

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. Sá spent the following two seasons on loan, to Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

Kasımpaşa S.K. Kasımpaşa Spor Kulübü. (, Kasımpaşa Sports Club), commercially registered as Kasımpaşa Sportif Faaliyetleri A.Ş., colloquially known Kasımpaşa, is a Turkish professional football club located in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. The c ...

and

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in t ...

of the Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

Ludogorets

On 2 October 2020, Sá joined PFC Ludogorets Razgrad of the

First Professional Football 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 ...

on a three-year contract.

International career

Four youth levels comprised, Sá won 28

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

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. His first for the under-21s arrived on 25 March 2013, in a 2−1 friendly defeat of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

held in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

Career statistics

Honours

Huesca *

: 2019–20 Ludogorets Razgrad *

First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) 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 ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sa, Josue 1992 births Living people Portuguese footballers Footballers from Lisbon Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Vitória S.C. players G.D. Chaves players Vitória S.C. B players Rio Ave F.C. players Belgian Pro League players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Süper Lig players Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Segunda División players SD Huesca footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Israel Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Israel