Judilson Mamadu Tuncará Gomes (born 29 September 1991), known as Pelé, is a 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 defensive midfielder for the Guinea-Bissau national team.

Club career

Belenenses

Born in Agualva-Cacém to Bissau-Guinean parents, Pelé started his career with local

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Reste ...

. He made his first-team – and

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, ...

– debut on 11 January 2009, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away win against

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 ...

. Much more used in his first full season (seven starts, 642 minutes of action), Pelé's team would nonetheless suffer relegation, ranking second-bottom.

Italy

On 4 January 2011, after having been linked to the club in September 2010, Pelé was signed by Serie A side Genoa, with the deal being made effective in the summer. However, he only appeared for the under-20 reserves during his spell. On 30 August 2011, Pelé was exchanged with A.C. Milan's Mario Sampirisi, both in a co-ownership deal. He played as an overage player (only four players born in 1991 were allowed that season) for the B team in his first year.

Loans

On 31 July 2012, Pelé was loaned out to

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fa ...

in the Ukrainian Premier League. He spent the following campaign in the same situation, with

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 ...

back in his homeland. After a successful loan spell at Belenenses, where he scored seven competitive goals to help his team finish in sixth position and

qualify 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, Pelé attracted the interest of Benfica, who signed him for 2015–16. He was immediately loaned to

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

, and on 31 January 2017, still owned by the former, joined

Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of Portuguese football. Their chairma ...

also in the Portuguese top flight.

Rio Ave

On 29 June 2017, Pelé signed a five-year contract with Rio Ave. He scored seven league goals in 38 official matches in his first and only season, helping to qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round after a sixth-place finish.

Monaco

Pelé moved to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

in July 2018, agreeing to a five-year deal at Monaco – Benfica and Rio Ave shared the €10 million transfer fee in equal parts. He made his debut in the competition on 28 September, starting in a 2–0 away loss to

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

and being replaced by

Benjamin Henrichs Benjamin Paa Kwesi Henrichs (born 23 February 1997) is a German professional footballer who plays as a full-back or midfielder for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Germany national team. Club career Bayer Leverkusen Henrichs is an academy g ...

late into the second half. On 31 January 2019, Pelé joined English club Nottingham Forest on loan for the remainder of the season. On 6 August, in the same situation, he moved to Reading also of the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

. He scored his first goal for the latter on 7 March 2020, in a 3–1 away victory over Birmingham City. Pelé returned to Rio Ave on 29 September 2020, on yet another loan. On 5 August 2022, still owned by Monaco, he agreed to a deal at Famalicão.

International career

Pelé played twice for Portugal in the

2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification 2010 UEFA U-19 Championship (qualifying round) was the first round of qualifications for the final tournament of 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. The final tournament of the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship is preceded by two qualif ...

, in both games as a substitute, but was not selected for either the final tournament or the elite qualifying phase. He was then picked for a warm-up

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

before the

2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 18th FIFA U-20 World Cup. Colombia hosted the tournament between 29 July and 20 August 2011, with matches being played in eight cities. The tournament was won by Brazil who claimed their fifth title. At a FIFA ...

, a 3–3 draw with France, and appeared in all the matches in the finals in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

as the nation finished in second position. Pelé made his debut for Guinea-Bissau on 10 June 2017, starting in a 1–0 win over Namibia for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

qualifiers. He was selected by manager

Baciro Candé Baciro Candé (born 18 March 1948 in Catió) is a Bissau-Guinean professional football player and manager. Career Candé played professional football in Portugal's Segunda Liga as a defender with Estrela da Amadora and Amora. After he retire ...

for the finals in Egypt, playing three games in a group-stage exit. Also part of the squad for the 2021 tournament, Pelé missed a penalty in the last minutes of the 0–0 draw against

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in Garoua.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Guinea-Bissau's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pelé goal.''

Honours

Portugal U20 * FIFA U-20 World Cup runner-up:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Orders *

Knight of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pele 1991 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Sintra Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.F. Os Belenenses players S.C. Olhanense players S.L. Benfica footballers F.C. Paços de Ferreira players C.D. Feirense players Rio Ave F.C. players F.C. Famalicão players Genoa CFC players AC Milan players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Arsenal Kyiv players Ligue 1 players AS Monaco FC players English Football League players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Reading F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in England