Hélder Filipe Oliveira Lopes (; born 4 January 1989) 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 for Israeli club

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli professional association football, football club from the city of Beersheba, Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club was estab ...

as a

left-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 made 101

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 for

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its Association football, football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth natio ...

and

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

before spending the majority of his career abroad, featuring in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

with

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

and winning national honours at

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

and

Club career

Parma and Portugal

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 ...

, Lopes spent his youth career at SC Coimbrões, Padroense F.C. and CD Candal, graduating from the latter in 2008. In that summer he moved abroad, joining

Parma F.C. Parma Calcio 1913 () is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie A, the top tier of Italian league system, following promotion from Serie B in the 2023–24 season. ''Parma Football Cl ...

but failing to make a single appearance for the club. Returning to his homeland in January 2009, Lopes made his senior debut with

SC Mirandela Sport Clube de Mirandela ''(Mirandela)'' is a Portuguese football club based in the city of Mirandela, in northeast Portugal (Trás-os-Montes region). Background Mirandela currently plays in the Segunda Divisão Zona Norte, which is the third ...

by starting in a 1–1

Segunda Divisão : : The Segunda Divisão Portuguesa ( English: ''Portuguese Second Division'') was a football league situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. The division had previously been the second level of the Portuguese pyrami ...

home draw against

SC Maria da Fonte Sport Clube Maria da Fonte ''(abbreviated as SC Maria da Fonte)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Lanhoso in the district of Braga. Background SC Maria da Fonte currently plays in the Terceira Divisão Série A which is t ...

. He subsequently represented C.F. Oliveira do Douro, S.C. Espinho and C.D. Tondela, all in the lower leagues; with the latter team, he achieved promotion to the Segunda Liga. Lopes signed a two-year deal with

side S.C. Beira-Mar on 5 July 2012. He made his professional debut on 30 September, coming on as a second-half substitute for Rúben Ribeiro in a 1–1 home draw with Vitória de Setúbal. On 28 June 2013, Lopes was transferred to F.C. Paços de Ferreira also in the top tier. He scored his first goal as a professional on 3 January 2015, in a 1–2 home loss to Rio Ave FC.

Las Palmas

On 31 May 2016, Lopes agreed to a two-year contract with

club

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

. His competitive debut took place on 1 October, as he started and played 69 minutes in a 2–2 draw at

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

AEK Athens

On 21 June 2017, 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 ...

Lopes signed a two-year deal at

AEK Athens FC A.E.K. Football Club (), known simply as A.E.K. (; ) in Greece and AEK Athens internationally, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica, Greece. Established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the ...

. He made his official debut on 2 August, in a 1–0 away defeat against

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English language, English: ''Central Sports Club of the Army''), commonly referred to as CSKA Moscow or ''CSK ...

in the second leg of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

third qualifying round. Lopes scored his first goal for the team on 6 January 2018, in a 4–1 victory over against

Panetolikos F.C. Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrinio ...

after an assist from

Masoud Shojaei Masoud Soleimani Shojaei (; born 9 June 1984) is an Iranian coach and former professional footballer. Shojaei played mainly as an attacking midfielder, he could also play as a winger or forward. After playing in his country for two clubs and ...

. He appeared in 31 matches in all competitions in his first season, helping the club to win its first

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 ...

since 1994. On 29 September 2018, in an away fixture against OFI Crete FC, Lopes suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

injury. On 8 January 2019, he agreed to a contract extension until the summer of 2022.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

In August 2021, Lopes joined

Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli professional football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club was established in 1949, and since 2007 it ...

of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

. In his first season, the team won the State Cup, with him scoring the decisive strike in the

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 ...

after a 2–2 final draw with Maccabi Haifa FC. On 16 July, they lifted the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

, with him also on target as they won on the same method against the same adversary; in between the two honours, the club exercised the option of a second year on his contract.

Personal life

Lopes' twin brother, Tiago, was also a footballer and a defender.

Career statistics

Honours

AEK Athens *

: 2017–18 Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involves clubs of all standards ...

: 2021–22, 2024–25 *

Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions (, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champions and the winner of the late ...

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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes, Helder 1989 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese twins Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Vila Nova de Gaia Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Padroense F.C. players SC Mirandela players S.C. Espinho players C.D. Tondela players S.C. Beira-Mar players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Parma Calcio 1913 players La Liga players UD Las Palmas players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Israel