Adelino André Vieira de Freitas (born 24 January 1986), known as Vieirinha (), 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 winger or a full-back for Greek club PAOK, for which he is

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Ambidextrous, he started playing for

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, but spent most of his professional career with PAOK and

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's hea ...

. With the first club, for whom he appeared in over 200 competitive matches, he won the

2018–19 Super League Greece The 2018–19 Super League Greece, or ''Super League Souroti'' for sponsorship reasons, was the 83rd season of the highest tier in league of Greek football and the 13th under its current name. The season started on 25 August 2018 and concluded ...

and three Greek Cups. Vieirinha made his debut with the Portugal national team in 2013, and was part of the squads at the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

and

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, winning the latter tournament.

Club career

Porto

Formed in the youth ranks of local

Vitória SC 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 (b ...

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 ...

-born Vieirinha caught the interest of

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

and eventually finished his football grooming there. After a six-month loan at

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

F.C. Marco Futebol Clube do Marco was a Portuguese football team based in Marco de Canaveses, Porto District. Founded in 1927, it held home games at ''Estádio Municipal de Marco de Canaveses'', which has a 10,000-seat capacity. History Futebol Clube do Mar ...

he joined the first team in the 2006–07 season, being given a four-year professional contract. Vieirinha played his first official game for Porto on 11 August 2006, in the

Portuguese Supercup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

against

Vitória de Setúbal 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 (b ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 70th minute and scoring the game's last goal in the 89th, in a 3–0 final result. Alongside teammates

Diogo Valente Diogo Jorge Moreno Valente (born 23 September 1984) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left winger for S.C. Salgueiros. He totalled 193 Primeira Liga games and 18 goals for seven clubs, including as a fringe player for Porto ...

and

Paulo Machado Paulo Ricardo Ribeiro de Jesus Machado (born 31 March 1986) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Formed at Porto, he amassed Primeira Liga totals of 103 matches and eight goals over five seasons, ...

, Vieirinha was loaned to

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, ...

promotees

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as Leixões (), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well kno ...

for 2007–08. All proved instrumental as the

Matosinhos Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal () is a city and a municipality in the northern Porto district of Portugal, bordered in the south by the city of Porto (8 km from the city centre). The population in 2011 was 175,478, and covered an area of approx ...

side retained their league status at the end of the campaign.

PAOK

Vieirinha then returned to Porto, being immediately loaned to PAOK FC of Greece, which had expressed interest in the player as his compatriot Fernando Santos was at the club's helm at the time. A season-long loan was eventually arranged, as the player teamed up with compatriot

Sérgio Conceição Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição (; born 15 November 1974) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who mostly played as a right winger. He is the current manager of Porto. Throughout his career, he played for ten ...

. After only a few games, he picked up a serious injury (torn ankle

ligament A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal li ...

) in a

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

against

Aris Thessaloniki FC Aris FC ( el, ΠΑΕ Άρης), commonly known as Aris Thessaloniki FC, AFC or simply Aris, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1914 as ''Aris Thessaloniki Football Club'', the ...

, caused by Vitolo, a player who would join PAOK the following year. In mid-July 2009, PAOK came to terms with Porto to make the move permanent for roughly

€ 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 o ...

1 million, following Vieirinha's wish to continue playing under coach Santos. He renewed his link late in the year until June 2013, with a €15 million

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

. On 4 November 2010, diminutive Vieirinha scored with his head in a 1–0 home win against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

in the group stage of 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 was also named the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

's most valuable player, the second individual accolade in a row whilst at the

Toumba Stadium Toumba Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Τούμπας) is a football stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is property of AC PAOK. The official name of the stadium is simply PAOK Stadium ( el, Στάδιο ΠΑΟΚ), but through the years it has become ...

, and his team finished in third position and qualified to the Europa League. Despite considerable transfer market speculation owing to his increased potential, Vieirinha started 2011–12 in the same place, helping the side progress to the Europa League group stage. He played 126 matches in all competitions, scoring 28 goals and making 21 assists.

Wolfsburg

With a short statement on 3 January 2012, PAOK announced the club had come to terms regarding the transfer of Vieirinha to German side VfL Wolfsburg; the player signed until June 2015, for approximately €4 million. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut on the 21st, playing 45 minutes in a 1–0 home victory over

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

. Vieirinha scored his first official goal for the Wolves on 9 March 2013, contributing to a 5–2 away rout of

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

with a volley from outside the box. In September, during a DFB-Pokal game against VfR Aalen, he ruptured his knee ligaments, going on to be sidelined until April of the following year. Vierinha played at

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 ...

as Wolfsburg won its first domestic cup on 30 May 2015, with a 3–1 win over

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

, and featured in the same position on 1 August as they

conquered Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

the DFL-Supercup against

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

in a penalty shootout. On 8 December, again as a winger, he was one of three players on target for the hosts as they defeated

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

3–2 in

the last round ''The Last Round'' ( it, Il conto è chiuso) is a 1976 Italian crime film directed by Stelvio Massi. Cast *Carlos Monzón: Marco Russo *Luc Merenda: Rico Manzetti *Leonora Fani: Nina *Mariangela Giordano: Lisa's Mother *Gianni Dei: Beny Manzett ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

's group stage and progressed at the expense of their adversary.

Return to Greece

On 31 August 2017, PAOK announced the signing of Vierinha on a €1 million fee. He scored his first goal in his second spell on 20 November, netting from a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in a 2–1 home win against

Atromitos FC Atromitos Football Club (, ''PAE APS Atromitos Athinon''), also simply known as Atromitos (literally meaning "Fearless"), is a Greek professional football club based in Peristeri, Athens, that plays in the Super League. It was founded in 1923 a ...

. On 12 May 2018, a free kick from

Vieirinha helped the club overcome

AEK Athens F.C. AEK FC ( el, ΠΑΕ A.E.K. ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos'', meaning ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filade ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the Greek Cup at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

, a 2–0 victory to help renew the supremacy in that tournament. For his display, he was named the ''

Player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

''. Vieirinha suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

injury against

Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. AEL Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΑΕΛ), also known by its full name Athlitiki Enosi Larissas ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λάρισας, translation=Athletic Union of Larissa), simply called AEL or Larissa, is a Greek professional footb ...

on 14 April 2019, going on to be sidelined for approximately six months. In spite of this, he still took the field in the 89th minute of the final league fixture with

Levadiakos F.C. Levadiakos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Λεβαδειακός) is a Greek professional Association football, football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Super League Greece, Alpha Et ...

the following weekend, as the side were crowned champions for the first time since

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

and third overall. On 5 March 2021, aged 35, Vieirinha renewed his contract until the summer of 2022. On 22 May, he scored the first goal from the spot as PAOK won 2–1 against league winners Olympiacos in the domestic cup final. On 24 February 2022, Vieirinha scored in a 2–1 home victory over FC Midtjylland in the

knockout round play-offs A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

of the UEFA Europa Conference League, helping his team reach the round of 16 in Europe for the first time in 48 years after a penalty shootout. In June, he agreed to a one-year extension.

International career

Vieirinha featured for every youth level of the Portugal national team, from under-16 to under-21, earning a total of 83 caps and scoring 28 goals in the process. In November 2011 he received his first callup to the main squad, replacing the injured

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English journalis ...

for the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. Vieirinha finally made his debut for Portugal on 22 March 2013, playing the last 30 minutes in a 3–3 draw in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualifiers. On 19 May of the following year he was named in the final 23-man squad for the finals in Brazil and, on 11 June, scored his first international goal, netting his team's fourth in a 5–1

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 * ...

win over 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 ...

in the United States four minutes after replacing

Silvestre Varela Silvestre Manuel Gonçalves Varela (born 2 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for FC Porto B as a winger. He represented mainly Porto during his career, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 268 matches and 47 goals ov ...

. He featured once in the final stages, playing 21 minutes in the 2–1 group stage defeat of

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 Portugal went out on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

. On 17 November 2015, Vieirinha captained the side for the only time in a 2–0 friendly victory away to

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. At

, under former PAOK boss Santos, he was the first choice right-back during the group stage but lost his place to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

's Cédric Soares in the knockout phase.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Honours

Club

Porto *

: 2006–07 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Wolfsburg * DFB-Pokal: 2014–15 * DFL-Supercup:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

PAOK *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 2018–19 *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: 2017–18, 2018–19,

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 ...

International

Portugal *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Individual

*Super League Greece Best Foreign Player: 2010–11, 2018–19 *Greek Football Cup Final MVP: 2017–18 * Super League Greece Team of the Year: 2017–18, 2018–19 * PAOK MVP of the Season: 2010–11, 2017–18, 2018–19

Orders

Commander of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

References

External links

* *
National team data
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vieirinha 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Guimarães Portuguese footballers Association football wingers Association football utility players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players FC Porto B players FC Porto players F.C. Marco players Leixões S.C. players Super League Greece players PAOK FC players Bundesliga players VfL Wolfsburg players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Germany Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany