Zainadine Abdula Chavango Júnior (born 24 June 1988) is a Mozambican 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He spent most of his career in Portugal with rivals

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

and Marítimo, making over 250

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

appearances. A full international with over 60

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

since 2008, he represented the country at the

2010 Africa Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was held in Angola, where it began on 10 January 2 ...

Club career

Born in

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, Zainadine Júnior began his career with local Desportivo Maputo and

Liga Muçulmana de Maputo Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Ameri ...

. In late 2009, he and compatriot

Mexer Edson André Sitoe (born 8 September 1988), known as Mexer, is a Mozambican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for TFF First League club Bandırmaspor and the Mozambique national football team, Mozambique na ...

trialled at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, but only the latter ended up signing. In August 2013, Zainadine Júnior finally got his move to Portugal's

, joining

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, 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 , P ...

. He made his debut on 22 September in a 1–0 home win over Académica de Coimbra, in which he assisted the goal by

Mario Rondón Mario Junior Rondón Fernández (; born 26 March 1986) is a Venezuelan former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Born in Los Teques, Miranda, Rondón arrived in Portugal at age 18, finishing his junior career with A ...

. In 20 appearances as the team from

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

secured fifth place and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

qualification, he scored once on 8 December to secure a 2–2 draw in the

Madeira derby Throughout the history of football in Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, i ...

away to

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

. After playing the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

with

Tianjin Teda FC Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club (), previously Tianjin TEDA (), is a Chinese professional football club based in Tianjin, that competes in . Tianjin Jinmen Tiger plays its home matches at the TEDA Soccer Stadium, located within Binhai. The fo ...

, Zainadine Júnior returned to Portugal's top flight on loan to Marítimo. The team ended the season in sixth and qualified for Europe, with him scoring the equaliser in a 3–1 home win over

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a professional Association football, football club based in the Porto metropolitan area. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,600-seat capac ...

on 19 March; the goal was voted the league's best of the month. In July 2017, Zainadine Júnior rescinded his contract with Tianjin to sign for Marítimo. Two years later, he signed a new deal to keep him with the ''Rubro-Verdes'' until 2022. In April 2022, he signed a new two-year deal.

International career

Zainadine Júnior was called up to represent

at the

, where he was unused in a group stage elimination in Angola. He scored his one international goal on 8 September 2018 in a

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

qualifier at home to

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

, opening a 2–2 draw.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mozambique's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Junior, Zainadine 1988 births Living people Mozambican men's footballers 21st-century Mozambican sportsmen Footballers from Maputo Mozambique men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football central defenders GD Maputo players Liga Desportiva de Maputo players C.D. Nacional players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players C.S. Marítimo players Primeira Liga players Chinese Super League players Mozambican expatriate men's footballers Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in China Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal