Vítor Hugo Gomes da Silva (born 25 December 1987), known as Gomes, 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 for

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 ...

as a defensive midfielder. He achieved

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, ...

totals of 263 games and 15 goals over 13 seasons, for

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

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 ...

and

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. He also played professionally in Hungary, Turkey and Cyprus.

Club career

Born in Vila do Conde and a product of hometown club Rio Ave FC's youth system, Gomes first appeared with the first team on 19 March 2006, starting in a 0–1 home loss against S.L. Benfica. In late January 2008, he began an unsuccessful loan spell at Serie A's Cagliari Calcio, making no appearances and returning to Rio Ave in July. During that season, he also played 13 matches (12 starts) as they returned to the

after an absence of two years. In the following top-division campaigns, Gomes was regularly used by Rio Ave. He scored his first goals in 2009–10, against

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

(2–0, home) and

S.C. 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 ...

(1–5 defeat, also at the

Estádio dos Arcos Estadio dos Arcos is a multi-use stadium in Vila do Conde, Portugal. It is used mostly for football matches of Primeira Liga club Rio Ave. The stadium is able to hold 12,815 people and was built in 1985. Since November 2020 it's only able to hold ...

). In January 2013, Gomes joined a host of compatriots at Videoton FC, with the Hungarians making the deal permanent in early June. Two years later, he was loaned to Balıkesirspor in the Turkish Süper Lig by

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

. Gomes continued to compete in the Portuguese top tier in the following years, with

C.F. Os 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 Rest ...

and

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

. On 18 April 2018, he scored twice in a 2–1 away victory over

Caldas S.C. Caldas Sport Clube is a Portuguese professional football team based in Caldas da Rainha. Founded on 15 May 1916, the club competes in the Campeonato de Portugal. History Between 1956 and 1959, Caldas participated in the Portuguese Liga, the to ...

in the semi-finals of the Taça de Portugal to take the latter club to its first ever final in the competition. He also played the full 90 minutes in the decisive match against Sporting CP, providing an assist to

Alexandre Guedes Alexandre Xavier Pereira Guedes (born 11 February 1994) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for F.C. Paços de Ferreira. Club career Sporting CP Born in Arcozelo, Vila Nova de Gaia, Guedes joined Sporting CP's youth ...

in the 2–1 win in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. On 1 October 2018, Gomes scored a hat-trick, his only goals of the season, in a 3–0 home defeat of

Portimonense SC Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It a ...

. He moved abroad again the following 2 July, on a free transfer to AC Omonia of the Cypriot First Division for two years. During his time in

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

, he won a league title in

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 ...

. Gomes returned to Rio Ave on 1 July 2021, signing a two-year deal with the option of a third. The team won promotion as champions in his first season back, and he scored the only goal of a home winner over title rivals

Casa Pia A.C. Casa Pia Atlético Clube is a Portuguese multi-sports founded in 1920 and based in Lisbon, Portugal, best-known for its football team, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after Casa Pia, a Portuguese children's charity, and many ...

with two games remaining.

International career

Gomes was a member of the Portugal under-20 squad at the 2007 FIFA World Cup. Later that year, in August, he received his first callup to the under-21s; he won his only cap for the latter on the 21st, playing the second half of the 3–0

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 against Malta held in his hometown.

Personal life

Gomes' older brother, José, was also a footballer. A defender, he represented several clubs, and the pair shared teams in Rio Ave (2005–06, 2009–12).

Career statistics

Honours

Aves * Taça de Portugal: 2017–18 Omonia * Cypriot First Division:

Rio Ave * Liga Portugal 2: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes, Vitor 1987 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Vila do Conde Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Rio Ave F.C. players Moreirense F.C. players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.D. Aves players Cagliari Calcio players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Fehérvár FC players Süper Lig players Balıkesirspor footballers Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus