Kevin Lenini Gonçalves Pereira de Pina (born 27 January 1997) is a Cape Verdean professional footballer who plays 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 ...

for Russian club

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern ...

and the Cape Verde national team.

Club career

A youth product of the Cape Verdean team Tchadense, Pina made his professional debut with Oliveirense in a 3–2

LigaPro 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 ...

loss to Benfica B on 13 January 2018. He shortly after went on loan to Anadia and

Sertanense Sertanense Futebol Clube (), formerly Sertanense Foot-ball Club, is a Portuguese football club based in Sertã. Founded in 1934, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo de Jogos Dr. Marques dos Santos''. ...

, before transferring to Chaves in 2019. On 8 September 2022, Pina signed a three-year contract with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

International career

Pina was called up to represent the Cape Verde national team for

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

matches in September 2021. He debuted with Cape Verde in a 6–0 friendly win over

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

on 25 March 2022. In December 2023, Pina was named in Cape Verde's squad for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2023 or CAN 2023) is scheduled to be the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's association football, football championship of Africa organized by the ...

in the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. He was in the starting line-up for Cape Verde's opening match against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, as the ''Tubarões Azuis'' defeated the four-time African champions 2–1. In the team's second match, he scored the final goal of a 3–0 win over

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

which qualified Cape Verde for the

knockout stage A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the competition.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 19 January 2024. Cape Verde's score listed first, score column indicates score after each Pina goal.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pina, Kevin 1997 births Footballers from Praia Living people Cape Verdean men's footballers Cape Verde men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders U.D. Oliveirense players Anadia F.C. players Sertanense F.C. players G.D. Chaves players FC Krasnodar players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Russian Premier League players Cape Verdean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Russia 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players