Gonçalo do Lago Pontes Esteves (born 27 February 2004) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

right-back 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 ...

for 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 ...

Club career

Born in Aboim das Choças,

Arcos de Valdevez Arcos de Valdevez () is a concelho, municipality along the northern frontier of Portugal and Galicia (Spain), Galicia (Spain). The population in 2011 was 22,847,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 also spent time on a youth loan at

Padroense Padroense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese football club that competes in the Portuguese Second Division. They were founded in 1922. History The first field of Padroense F.C. was the "Saibreira" before moving to the "stray field" (what is now High ...

. Esteves signed for

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,

from Porto in July 2021. He settled well at his new club, and within a week had impressed first-team manager

Ruben Amorim Ruben Filipe Marques Amorim (; born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese Professional association football, professional football Manager (association football), manager, a former player and the current manager of Premier League club Manchester Unit ...

enough to secure a place in first team training. Following good performances for the

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 ...

side's B team, Esteves was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''s "Next Generation" list for 2021. He scored his first goal for Sporting's B team in a 2–0 victory over

Cova da Piedade Cova da Piedade () is a former civil parish in the municipality of Almada, Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Almada, Cova da Piedade, Pragal e Cacilhas. The population in 2011 was 19,904, in an ar ...

on 1 October 2021. Two weeks later, he made his first-team debut in the third round of the

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 ...

, starting in a 4–0 win at

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

. 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 came on 18 December, again starting in a 3–0 win at

Gil Vicente FC Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Barcelos. It plays their home matches at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the ...

; he had been guaranteed his place by Amorim due to the absences of Pedro Porro and

Ricardo Esgaio Ricardo de Sousa Esgaio (; born 16 May 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Sporting CP as a right-back. He made 243 Primeira Liga appearances with Sporting CP (two spells), Braga and on loan at Académica, winning ...

through injury and

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

respectively. On 30 June 2022, Esteves was loaned to fellow top-flight team

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese professional sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its Association football, football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home g ...

for the upcoming season. In his second game on 14 August, he was sent off after an hour of a 1–0 loss at

Vitória de Guimarães 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 ...

. On 5 January 2024, Esteves joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

on loan until the end of the 2023–24 season, with an option to make the move permanent, reported to be €2 million. In August 2024, Esteves joined

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 ...

side

on a four-year deal. On 29 August 2024, Esteves moved to

Yverdon-Sport Yverdon-Sport FC is a Swiss football club based in Yverdon-les-Bains that is set to compete in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football, after being relegated from the top-tier Swiss Super League in the 2024–25 season. The club ...

in Switzerland on loan with an option to buy.

International career

Esteves has represented Portugal at youth international level.

Personal life

Esteves' older brother, Tomás, is also a footballer who plays as a

Career statistics

Club

;

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteves, Gonçalo 2004 births Living people People from Arcos de Valdevez Footballers from Viana do Castelo District Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Sporting CP footballers Sporting CP B players G.D. Estoril Praia players AZ Alkmaar players Jong AZ players Udinese Calcio players Yverdon-Sport FC players Liga 3 (Portugal) players Primeira Liga players Eerste Divisie players Swiss Super League players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen