Vítor Gomes Pereira Júnior (born 8 January 1989), is a Brazilian former 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 played as a

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 ...

, who is currently the head coach of the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

Academy U-19 team playing in the

United Premier Soccer League The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American soccer league that was founded in Santa Ana in Southern California, with teams in regionalized conferences throughout the United States, and recently Canada and Mexico. The league was found ...

. He is commonly known as Juninho or Vitor Junior, and is the older brother of footballer

Ricardo Goulart Ricardo Goulart Pereira, known as Ricardo Goulart (; born 5 June 1991), is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Bahia. Goulart started his career with Santo André in 2009, and remained at the club until 2011, wit ...

who plays for Santos.

Career

Juninho grew up in the city of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

and played for the

youth team, winning the U-17 Paulista Championship side in 2006. He made one appearance for the São Paulo senior side in 2007. He was sent out on loan to

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

team

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began play ...

in 2010 along with fellow Brazilians from the club Alex Cazumba and

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

. He made his debut for the team on 27 March 2010, in Galaxy's opening game of the 2010 MLS season against

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

, and scored his first goal for the Galaxy in a 2-0 win over

AC St. Louis AC St. Louis was an American professional association football, soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in December 2009, the team played its first and only season the next year in the NASL Conference of the temporary USSF ...

in the

2010 U.S. Open Cup The 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 97th edition of the USSF's annual national soccer championship, running from June through early October. The tournament proper featured teams from the top five levels of the American Soccer Pyramid. The ...

Round of 16 game on 29 June 2010. Juninho scored his first goal in a league game against

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

on 4 July 2010, shooting from over 30 yards out. The goal was named the Goal of the Week for week 13. Juninho helped Galaxy win the

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

in both 2010 and 2011. He was also a key player in the Galaxy's

2011 MLS Cup MLS Cup 2011, the 16th edition of Major League Soccer's championship match, was played between the Houston Dynamo and the Los Angeles Galaxy to decide the champion of the 2011 season. The soccer match was played at the Home Depot Center in Car ...

championship and played the full 90 minutes in the final victory over the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

. At the conclusion of the 2011 MLS season, Juninho left Los Angeles and signed a three-year contract with boyhood club São Paulo. However, in February 2012 Juninho returned to Los Angeles on loan for the 2012 MLS season. Juninho eventually made his stay at Los Angeles a permanent one when he signed with the club in January 2013 following his release from São Paulo. In his six seasons with LA Galaxy, Juninho made 180 starts and 187 regular season appearances, recording 18 goals and 23 assists along the way. He also recorded an additional 21 appearances, one goal and four assists in postseason play, including scoring the decisive goal in the 2014 Wester Conference Final to send the Galaxy to the MLS Cup. In December 2015, Juninho was sold to

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

, where he signed a three-year deal. CINvCHI 2017-06-28 - Vitor Junior (27326104718) (cropped)

In December 2016, Juninho was loaned from Tijuana to Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. This loan ended following the conclusion of the 2017 season. On 18 December 2018, Juninho returned to

for a third stint, after acquiring the Right of First Refusal from the Chicago Fire in exchange for $75,000 in General Allocation Money. On 30 June 2020, Juninho announced his retirement from playing professional football.

Coaching

Juninho was named head coach of the

Academy U-19 squad ahead of their first season playing in the

. He had previously coached the Galaxy U-14 team before joining

Marcelo Sarvas Marcelo Fazzio Sarvas (born October 16, 1981) is a former Brazilian footballer who is currently the head coach for LA Galaxy II in MLS Next Pro. Club career Marcelo Sarvas began his career with Brazil's SC Corinthians Paulista debuting for the ...

in coaching the Galaxy U-17s.

Personal life

Juninho holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player in MLS. Juninho's brother

is also a footballer best known for playing with former Chinese Super League champion

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

, and currently playing for Santos.

Honours

Club

;São Paulo Reserves * U-17 Paulista Championship: 2006 ;Los Angeles Galaxy *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

(3):

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 ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

(2):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

;Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a tr ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Juninho (footballer 1989 01) 1989 births Living people Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Mexico Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico LA Galaxy players São Paulo FC players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Liga MX players Club Tijuana footballers LA Galaxy II players USL Championship players People from São José dos Campos Association football midfielders Footballers from São Paulo (state) United Premier Soccer League coaches Brazilian expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in the United States