Yannick dos Santos Djaló (born 5 May 1986) 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 mainly as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

but also as a winger. He played most of his professional career with Sporting after reaching the club's youth system at the age of 15, going on to appear in more than 150 official games and win four major titles. He moved to Benfica in 2012, and won the

Portuguese League Cup 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 ...

that year, but totalled only five appearances in 4 years, spending most of his time out on loan. Djaló earned 22 caps for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at youth level, and made his only senior appearance in 2010.

Club career

Sporting

Born in

Bissau Bissau () is the capital, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. Bissau had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and m ...

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

, Djaló was brought up through Sporting CP's prolific youth system, and made his

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 16 September 2006, playing the second half of a 0–1 home loss against

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal stadi ...

. He proved himself a quality player, often coming off the bench, and also appeared in the club's campaign in 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 ...

, renewing his contract during the season until 2013. On 6 April 2008, after a four-month absence due to injury, Djaló scored both goals in a 2–0 home win over S.C. Braga, having also found the net the previous week as a substitute in a 4–1 away defeat of

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, is a Portuguese football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it plays in the Division of Honour in the Coimbra Football Associ ...

. He finished the season in good form, netting the only goal in a win at Paços de Ferreira which proved crucial in helping the side to retain their second place in the league; in the Taça de Portugal, he scored twice in a thrilling 5–3 semi-final win against city-rivals S.L. Benfica. On 16 August 2008, Djaló scored both goals in Sporting's win against defending league champions

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 ...

to claim 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 ...

for the second year in a row. During 2009–10 he was an everpresent attacking figure, up front or in the wings and, on 2 April 2010, he netted his first career

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

, at home against Rio Ave FC (5–0). On 26 August 2010, Djaló scored in the 90th minute to help the ''Lions'' defeat

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

3–0 after losing 0–2 at home, thus

qualifying 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 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 ...

's group stage.

Cancelled transfer to Nice

On 31 August 2011, the very last day of the summer

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, Djaló left Sporting, signing for

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...

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 ...

for €6 million. On 7 September,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

ruled that his transfer would be voided due to the move being completed following the closure of the transfer deadline, and the French club's officials announced that they would appeal the ruling. After FIFA failed to take any action regarding the appeal, on 28 September, Nice executive Julien Fournier announced that the club would take the case to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

(CAS). Two weeks later the appeal was rejected, which meant Djaló would not be eligible to represent a new team until January 2012; on the following day after the CAS ruling, Fournier confirmed to Portuguese radio station Rádio Renascença that the player would be returning to Sporting. Quakes_djalo_running

Benfica

On 31 January 2012,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Djaló signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Benfica. Exactly seven months later, in the last hours of the summer transfer window, he moved to another team in France's top flight,

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club is French professional football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the premier division of French football. Toulouse plays its home matches at the Stadium de Toulouse lo ...

, joining on loan with an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season. Djaló was loaned 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 ...

side

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

on 10 March 2014, until the end of the campaign. He subsequently returned to Benfica, being assigned to

the B-team The B-Team was a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. The team are former one-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. They also formerly performed as The Social Outcasts and The Miztourage from 2016 to 2018 be ...

in the Segunda Liga. On 26 January 2015, Djaló was loaned to FC Mordovia Saransk in the Russian Premier League until the end of the season. The move was extended for another year on 7 August.

Later years

In February 2016, Djaló terminated his contract with Benfica, signing for one year with

Ratchaburi F.C. Ratchaburi Football Club ( Thai: สโมสรฟุตบอลจังหวัดราชบุรี ) is a Thai professional football club based in Ratchaburi province that currently plays in Thai League 1. Ratchaburi has the nickname ...

from the

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

immediately after. On 24 August 2017, the 31-year-old returned to his country of adoption after agreeing to a one-year deal at

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 ...

; having made only two substitute appearances, he returned to Ratchaburi the following June.

International career

Djaló chose to represent

internationally, appearing for the country in various youth levels. Twelve days after his 2008 Supercup exploits, he was called up to the senior team by manager Carlos Queiroz, but did not make his debut. In late August 2010, Djaló was selected for two

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 ...

qualifiers after Porto's

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 ...

– his former Sporting teammate – suffered an injury. He finally made his debut on 3 September, playing the last six minutes of the 4–4 home draw against minnows

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

after replacing Hugo Almeida.

Personal life

Born in Guinea-Bissau, Djaló lived most of his life in the Portuguese capital,

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 ...

. He is the cousin of the Bissau-Guinean footballer José Embaló. In May 2010 he married singer and TV-personality

Luciana Abreu Luciana Abreu Sodré Costa Real (born 25 May 1985) is a Portuguese singer, actress and television host. Luciana Abreu is known for her participation in ''Idolos'', for representing Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 as part of the pop- ...

, subsequently taking his wife's surname and signing as "Yannick Abreu Djaló". The couple welcomed their first child, Lyonce Viktórya, early in the following year, the player having already fathered Christian Martim (born 2008) in a previous relationship.

Honours

Club

Sporting * Taça de Portugal: 2006–07, 2007–08 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

runner-up: 2007–08, 2008–09 Benfica *

: 2011–12

Individual

Young Player of the Month: March 2007

References

External links

*
National team data
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Djalo, Yannick 1986 births Living people Bissau-Guinean emigrants to Portugal Portuguese people of Bissau-Guinean descent Sportspeople from Bissau Bissau-Guinean footballers Portuguese footballers Association football wingers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP B players Sporting CP footballers Casa Pia A.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers Vitória F.C. players Ligue 1 players Toulouse FC players Major League Soccer players San Jose Earthquakes players Russian Premier League players FC Mordovia Saransk players Yannick Djalo Yannick Djalo Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal B international footballers Portugal international footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Thailand Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Russia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in France