Luis Pedro Cavanda (born 2 January 1991) is a Belgian 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 last played as a

right-back 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 Swiss club

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France ...

. Born in Angola, Cavanda represents

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

internationally. He also holds Congolese citizenship.

Career

Youth

Cavanda moved to Belgium at a young age and began playing for the Belgian club

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 ...

. In January 2007, Cavanda joined

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. With Lazio, Cavanda spent three-and-a-half years with the youth side.

Lazio

In 2009, Cavanda made a substitute appearance in a 4–0 win away to Bulgarian club

Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 b ...

in 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 ...

. He got his first start in the return match at the

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...

, which Lazio lost 0–1. On 29 August 2010, Cavanda made his

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 ...

debut, replacing Simone Del Nero in the second half of Lazio's opening day 2–0 loss to

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

at the

Stadio Luigi Ferraris The Stadio comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and is ...

. His first league start for

came at the

against eventual champions

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Cavanda earned plaudits with an impressive display against former

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representativ ...

and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

winner

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

. In January 2011, he was loaned to

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

until the end of the season. Cavanda returned to

after making just three appearances for the Turin club. Having played regularly in Serie A and in the Europa League during the 2011–12 season, Cavanda cemented his spot as a first choice in the 2012–13 season, replacing

Abdoulay Konko Abdoulaye Konko Faye (born 9 March 1984) is a French football coach and former player who played as a right-back. He is a youth coach at Genoa. Playing career Juventus A youth product of Juventus, Konko was loaned to Crotone with Giovanni ...

. Predominantly playing at right back, Cavanda also played at left back, making him a very versatile full back. Cavanda matured under manager Vladimir Petkovic and became an important player in Lazio's squad.

Trabzonspor

On 12 July 2015, Cavanda signed for Turkish side

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

Galatasaray

Cavanda signed a three-year contract with Turkish club

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

on 9 August 2016 for an initial fee of €1.8 million.

Standard Liège

On 17 March 2018, he played as

beat

Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...

1–0 in extra time to win the 2018 Belgian Cup Final and qualify for the

Failure to join with Trepça'89

On 17 February 2021, he signed for Kosovan club Trepça '89 in the Kosovar Superliga. Two days later, he refused to sign the final contract because he did not like the club infrastructure.

Neuchâtel Xamax

On 23 May 2022

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

club

confirmed, that Cavanda had joined the club on a one-year deal. After six appearances for the club, Cavanda broke a bone in his face during a training session at the end of August 2022.

International career

On 10 October 2015, he made his senior debut for the national team in a 4–1 win in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualification match against Andorra.

Personal life

Cavanda was born in Angola, to an Angolan father and a Congolese mother, and migrated to Belgium at a young age. He holds Belgian nationality. Despite having made youth level appearances for Belgium, Cavanda remained eligible to represent the Angolan and the Congolese national teams. Even though he initially opted for the latter in March 2015, he was called up by the

Belgium national football team The Belgium national football teamfrench: Équipe nationale belge de footballgerman: Belgische Fußballnationalmannschaft officially represents Belgium in men's international football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the ...

on 2 October 2015. He plays in the UEFA qualifying game for the nation cup in France against Andorra. This means he only can play for Belgium now.

Statistics

''Statistics accurate as of match played 26 October 2015''

Honours

Standard Liège *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2017–18 Belgian Cup, 2018

References

External links

*
Luis Pedro Cavanda
at aic.football.it * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavanda, Luis Pedro 1991 births Living people Belgian footballers Belgian expatriate footballers Footballers from Luanda Angolan emigrants to Belgium Naturalised citizens of Belgium Association football fullbacks Black Belgian sportspeople Belgian people of Angolan descent Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgium international footballers Belgian sportspeople of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent Standard Liège players S.S. Lazio players Torino F.C. players S.S.C. Bari players Trabzonspor footballers Galatasaray S.K. footballers Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players Serie A players Serie B players Süper Lig players Belgian Pro League players Swiss Challenge League players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland