Norberto Bercique Gomes Betuncal (born 31 January 1998), known as Beto, is a 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 striker for club Everton. Born in Portugal, he represents

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 ...

at international level.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

of Bissau-Guinean descent, Beto started his senior career with amateurs União de Tires in the

Lisbon Football Association The Lisbon Football Association (''Associação de Futebol de Lisboa''; AF Lisboa) is the district governing body for the all football competitions in the Portuguese district of Lisbon. It is also the regulator of the clubs registered in the di ...

, while working at

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

. In 2018 he signed with Olímpico do Montijo of the third division, finishing second in the scoring charts in his only season with 21 goals.

Portimonense

Beto moved straight to the

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 ...

on 3 June 2019, joining Portimonense on a four-year contract. He made his debut in the competition on 9 August, coming on as an 87th-minute substitute in a 0–0 home draw against

B-SAD B-SAD was a Portuguese football club currently based in Almada, founded on 30 June 2018 as an independent entity. An offshoot of Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, they played four seasons in the Primeira Liga, being relegated to the Liga Portugal ...

. He finished the campaign with a further ten league appearances, all from the bench. Beto scored his first goal in the Portuguese top division on 8 November 2020, but in a 3–1 away loss to

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. He added ten more during the season, best in the squad.

Udinese

On the last day of the 2021 summer

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, Beto was transferred to Italian club

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan with an obligation to buy. He scored four times in his first ten

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

appearances, helping his team earn six points in the process. Beto scored a

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 Wick ...

in a 5–1 home win over

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

on 3 April 2022.

Everton

On 29 August 2023, Beto joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Everton on a four-year deal for a reported fee of around £25.8 million (€30 million). The following day, he made his debut and scored his first goal for the ''Toffees'' in a 2–1 victory at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. His league bow took place on 2 September, when he featured the entire 2–2 draw away to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. Beto scored his first goal in the league on 7 December 2023, closing the 3–0 win over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

after playing the last minutes in place of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Twelve days later, he equalised 1–1 against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

in the League Cup quarter-finals and later converted his

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

attempt, but the opposition advanced with a 7–6 victory. As Calvert-Lewin was sidelined with a thigh injury, Beto enjoyed a run in the team as starter and made the most of it. On 12 February 2025, he put Everton ahead 1–0 in the 11th minute of the

Merseyside derby The Merseyside derby is an association football match between Everton F.C., Everton and Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, two clubs based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is the longest running top-flight local derby, derby in England, with its fi ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, in an eventual 2–2 home draw.

International career

In October 2022, Beto was named in a preliminary

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 ...

55-man squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar. Two years later, he accepted an offer from

manager

Luís Boa Morte Luís Boa Morte Pereira (; born 4 August 1977) is a Portuguese football coach and a former professional association football, football player who played as an winger (association football), attacking winger, forward (association football), for ...

to represent their national team. He won his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

on 11 October, in a 1–0 away loss to

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. He scored his first goal on 19 November, equalising an eventual 2–1 home defeat against

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 ...

in the same stage.

Personal life

Beto idolised

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

striker

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian Association football, football administrator and former Football player, player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. He is often regarded as one of the ...

as a child, and signed his name as "Beto'o". He named Beethoven's Ninth as his music to listen to before training.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Guinea-Bissau's goal tally first.''

Honours

Individual *

Goal of the Season: 2020–21

References

External links

*
Portuguese League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beto 1998 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent Black Portuguese sportspeople 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen 21st-century Bissau-Guinean sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Clube Olímpico do Montijo players Portimonense S.C. players Serie A players Udinese Calcio players Premier League players Everton F.C. players Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in England