Érico Henrique Esteves de Sousa (born 12 March 1995) is a Portuguese

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club Boreham Wood. He came through the youth ranks at

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

and in the

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

for

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

. He also played

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England, formed in 1919. The team's strip is red shirts and black shorts and their home ground is the 4,250 capacity Ewen Fields. Hyde United's record ...

, Tadcaster Albion,

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

, Barrow,

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. He is a former Portugal U19 international, having received one cap in 2014.

Career

Early life and career

Born in Vale da Amoreira,

Moita Moita () is a municipality in the district of Setúbal (district), Setúbal in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 66,029, in an area of 55.26 km2. The municipality is part of the Greater Lisbon Area, with a demographic rate of 1.194,9/km2 ...

, Portugal, Sousa moved to England when he was 10. He started his career at

, joining them when he was 15. After leaving Manchester City, Sousa joined

at the academy. After progressing through the ranks of the club's academy, Sousa was released by Barnsley on 7 May 2014. After leaving Barnsley, Sousa joined

. During his time at Hyde United, Sousa made 14 appearances and scoring once for the side.

NK Celje

After leaving Hyde United, Sousa moved to Slovenia, joining

on 4 August 2015, signing a three-year contract. On 7 August 2015, Sousa made his professional debut with

in a

match against Gorica, scoring in a 3-2 loss. He then played a vital role when he set up four goals in three matches between 2 December 2015 and 12 December 2015, including twice against

ND Gorica Nogometno društvo Gorica, commonly referred to as ND Gorica or simply Gorica, is a Slovenian football club based in Nova Gorica that competes in the Slovenian Second League, the second tier of Slovenian football. They are one of the most succ ...

, in which they drew 2-2. He then scored his second goal for the club on 19 March 2016, in a 2-1 loss against

NK Domžale Nogometni klub Domžale (), commonly referred to as NK Domžale or simply Domžale, is a Slovenian professional Association football, football club based in the town of Domžale that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of Slovenian ...

. He established himself in the first team at Celje and went on to make a total of 29 appearances and scoring once in his first season. However, in the 2016-17 season, Sousa made no appearances for the club and left the club in August 2016. After leaving NK Celje, Sousa enjoyed his time at the club, quoting: ''"It's a bit different. Language was a bit of a struggle but I started getting used to it and learned a few words myself."''

Tadcaster Albion

After leaving NK Celje, Sousa returned to England, where he joined

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

on trial, featuring in the club's U23 Development League fixture against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

on 26 September. Sousa remained a free agent until he joined Tadcaster Albion on 6 January 2017. He made three appearances and scoring once against

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's Historic counties of England, historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom censu ...

on 30 January 2017.

Accrington Stanley

On 13 February 2017 he signed a deal to join Accrington Stanley until the end of the season. This marked Sousas’ return to the English Football League after playing in the Slovenian top flight with

NK Celje Nogometni klub Celje (), commonly referred to as NK Celje or simply Celje (), is a professional association football, football club from Celje, Slovenia. They play in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of Slovenian football. Together with NK M ...

in 2016. However, Sousa made no appearances for the side and was released from Accrington Stanley on 21 March 2017 following complications regarding registering him as a player.

Tranmere Rovers

He signed a new contract with National League side

, after manager

Micky Mellon Michael Joseph Mellon (born 18 March 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who is the manager of club Oldham Athletic. As a player, he was a midfielder for clubs including Bristol City, West Bromwich Albion, Blackp ...

was impressed with his ability in the training sessions he had with the club. After missing out four matches, Sousa did not make his Tranmere Rovers debut, coming on as a late second-half substitute, in a 9-0 win over

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

on 8 April 2017. After making four appearances at the end of the 2016-17 season, Sousa was released by the club.

Return to Accrington Stanley

After leaving Tranmere Rovers at the end of the 2016–17 season, Sousa re-joined Accrington Stanley for the second time on 27 June 2017, signing a one-year contract. Sousa made his second debut for the club in a 3-2 win over

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

's U21 on 19 September 2017 in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

. He scored his first goal in a 2-1 loss against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in the EFL Trophy. On 7 November, he scored twice in a 4-0 win away to Wigan Athletic U23s, also in the EFL Trophy. Sousa continued to struggle in the first team, as well as his own injury concern. Accrington exercised a contractual option at the end of the 2017–18 season to retain him. On 8 October Sousa joined Barrow on a short-term loan. On 24 June 2020 it was announced that Sousa would be leaving Accrington Stanley when his contract expired.

Darlington

Sousa made a brief return to Tadcaster Albion, before joining

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

club

on 28 October 2020. He scored four goals from nine National League North appearances before the season was ended early because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and also contributed three goals in five

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

matches, finishing overall top scorer with 7 goals from 14 games.

Grimsby Town

On 22 June 2021, Sousa joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side

, on a one-year contract. Sousa played in the

2022 National League play-off final The 2022 National League play-off final, known as the Vanarama National League Promotion Final for sponsorship reasons, was an association football match played on 5 June 2022 at the London Stadium between Solihull Moors F.C., Solihull Moors and ...

as Grimsby beat

2–1 at the

London Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as the Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford, London, Stratford district of London. It is loc ...

to return to the

. On 11 June 2022, the club announced their retained list ahead of the 2022–23 season and confirmed that Sousa would be among those released when his contract expires on 30 June.

Boreham Wood

On 26 July 2022, Sousa signed for Boreham Wood. Following Wood's relegation, Sousa departed the club on a free transfer at the end of the 2023–24 season. Despite initially being released Boreham Wood announced on 28/06/2024 that Sousa had re-signed for the club ahead of the 2024-25 season

International career

In March 2014, Sousa represented Portugal U19, making his debut in 1-0 win over Qatar U19.

Honours

Grimsby Town *

play-off winners:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

* *
NZS profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Erico 1995 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Manchester City F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players NK Celje players Tadcaster Albion A.F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players National League (English football) players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Northern Premier League players English Football League players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England People from Moita Footballers from Setúbal District 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England