Joaõ Baldé (born 21 May 2001) 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

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

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

Club career

Baldé started his career in youth academies of Atlético Clube do Cacém and RD Algueirão in his native Portugal. In 2015, he moved to Scotland and joined the

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

youth academy. He earned a move to

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

youth academy in 2016. The midfielder had his first taste of senior football when he joined

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed in England, who play in the Scottish football system. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite being ba ...

on loan in 2019 A short spell with Livingston followed, where he spent the duration of his stay on loan at

Bonnyrigg Rose Bonnyrigg Rose Football Club is a Scottish football club from the town of Bonnyrigg. Formed in 1881 and nicknamed ''the Rose'', the team plays in the , having been relegated in 2024–25. Their home ground is New Dundas Park, and they have ...

After a brief spell with Civil Service Strollers, Baldé signed for Hibernian. He was immediately loaned back to Civil Service Strollers for the remainder of the 2021–2022 season. In August 2022, he signed for East Fife on a season long loan deal. He made his league debut on 6 August 2022 in a 3–0 home defeat to former club

. Baldé signed for

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

on a permanent deal on 2 January 2023, making his debut that day in a 4–2 win at home to

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. The midfielder signed for

on loan in November 2023. He signed permanently for the club in February 2024.

International career

Baldé was called up to the

Portugal national under-18 football team The Portugal national under-18 football team is the association football team that represents the nation of Portugal at the under-18 level. Players Current squad. The following players were named in the squad for the friendly tournament against ...

in March 2019, but did not make an appearance.

References

External links

Joaõ Baldé on Soccerbase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldé, Joaõ 2001 births Living people Scottish Football League players Men's association football midfielders Hibernian F.C. players The Spartans F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Bonnyrigg Rose F.C. players Civil Service Strollers F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players East Kilbride F.C. players