André Almeida Pinto (born 5 October 1989) is a Portuguese 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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; ), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a populati ...

Porto District The Districts of Portugal, District of Porto ( ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro (district), Aveiro and Viseu (distric ...

, Pinto joined

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), 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 association footbal ...

's youth academy at the age of 9. As a senior, he would be consecutively loaned for the duration of his contract, to C.D. Santa Clara,

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 * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

Portimonense S.C. 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 Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese footbal ...

and

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut with the second club, his first match in the competition being a 0–4 home loss against

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pe ...

on 13 September 2009 where he featured the full 90 minutes. Pinto was sold to

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

side

Panathinaikos F.C. Panathinaikos Football Club ( ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', ), is a Greek professional football club based in Athen ...

in summer 2012, making 22 competitive appearances in his only campaign. He returned to his homeland in late December 2013, signing with

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

for three and a half years and being initially assigned to the reserves. In late April 2017, after being ousted from the first-team squad by manager Jorge Simão and subsequently terminating his contract, Pinto agreed to a four-year deal 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,

with a release clause of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

45 million, with the move being made effective on 1 July. During his spell at the

Estádio José Alvalade The Estádio José Alvalade (; ') is a Football (soccer), football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the Estádio José Alvalade (1956), older stadium. The stadium is named afte ...

, he played second-fiddle to

Sebastián Coates Sebastián Coates Nion (; born 7 October 1990) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Uruguayan club Nacional. Having begun his career at Nacional, where he was a regular from his debut in 2009, Coates joined Li ...

and

Jérémy Mathieu Jérémy Mathieu (born 29 October 1983) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back or a left-back. Mathieu made 172 Ligue 1 appearances across seven seasons, split equally between FC Sochaux-Mont ...

. On 30 August 2019, Pinto joined

Al Fateh SC Al Fateh Sports Club () is a Saudi Arabian multi-sports club based in Al-Mubarraz, Al-Ahsa. It is mainly known for its professional football club. The club derives its nickname from the fact that almost all of its sections play in the nationa ...

of the

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

on a one-year contract. On 30 December of the following year, the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

agreed to a short-team deal at

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

with the option of extending it for another season. Pinto signed a one-year contract with Romanian club

FC Dinamo București FC Dinamo București, commonly known as Dinamo București () or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest that competes in the Liga I. Founded in 1948 as the team of the Ministry of Inter ...

in September 2021.

International career

Pinto earned 45

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

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

at youth level, including 12 for the under-21s. He made his debut with the full side on 31 March 2015, being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in the 60th minute of a 2–0 friendly defeat against

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

after a foul on Héldon.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Braga *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2015–16 Sporting CP *Taça de Portugal: 2018–19 *

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

: 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Andre 1989 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Vila Nova de Gaia Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players FC Porto players Padroense F.C. players C.D. Santa Clara players Vitória F.C. players Portimonense S.C. players S.C. Olhanense players S.C. Braga players S.C. Braga B players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Farense players Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Saudi Pro League players Al Fateh SC players Liga I players FC Dinamo București players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania