Paulo Domingos Gali da Costa Freitas (born 31 December 2004), commonly known as Gali Freitas, is a Timorese 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 ...

who plays as a winger for Liga 1 club

PSIS Semarang Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Semarang ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Semarang'), commonly known by its abbreviation PSIS is an Indonesian professional football club based in Semarang, Central Java. The club play their home matches in ...

Club career

PSIS Semarang

On 2 June 2023,

brought in a player from

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

, Paulo Gali for a foreign player slot from

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

. Gali contracted for one season. On 3 July 2023, Gali scored a goal in his debut match against Bhayangkara at the

Jatidiri Stadium Jatidiri Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is home stadium of PSIS Semarang. The stadium holds 25,000 people. In addition to a stadium, in this complex th ...

, Semarang.

International career

On 1 September 2018, Gali made his debut for the senior team in a 2018 AFF Championship qualification game against

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

in the first-leg in a 3–1 win. On 27 January 2022, Gali scored his debut goal for the senior team in a friendly match against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Career statistics

International

International goals

Honours

Lalenok United * Copa FFTL: 2020 Individual *

AFF U-16 Youth Championship The AFF U-16 Championship is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and occasionally invited nations from the rest of Asia. The tournament used to be p ...

top scorer:

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 ...

(7 goals)

Controversy

In 2019 Timor Leste's under 15 team for the

2019 AFF U-15 Championship The 2019 AFF U-15 Championship was the fourteenth edition of the AFF U-16 Championship (second edition of the under-15 era), the annual international youth association football championship organised by the ASEAN Football Federation for men's un ...

were accused of fielding overage players at the tournament, with team captain Paulo Domingos Gali da Costa Freitas being one of the prominent players accused of being over age with claims that he was at least 22 years old at the time. These protests lead to a formal investigation by the ASEAN Football Federation into the incident. The protests however were later dismissed with Paulo being deemed to be eligible to participate in the tournament.

References

2004 births Living people East Timorese men's footballers Lalenok United F.C. players Karketu Dili F.C. players PSIS Semarang players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players East Timorese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia East Timorese expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Timor-Leste men's international footballers Men's association football forwards {{EastTimor-footy-bio-stub