Jorge Samuel Figueiredo Fernandes (born 30 January 1996), known as Joca, 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
TFF 1. Lig club
Gençlerbirliği 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 ...
.
Club career
Braga
Born in
Braga
Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...
, Joca had two youth spells with local
S.C. Braga, the last one starting at the age of 15. He made his senior debut with
their reserves on 9 August 2014, coming on as a 76th-minute
substitute in a 1–0 away loss against
C.D. Tondela in the
Segunda Liga; he went to spend three full seasons with the side, always in that division.
On 11 July 2017, after scoring a career-best 12 goals during
the campaign with Braga B, Joca was loaned to
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 ...
club Tondela. His first game in the competition occurred on 9 September, when he featured one minute in the 2–2 home draw with
F.C. Paços de Ferreira.
Rio Ave and Leixões
On 27 July 2018, Joca signed a three-year contract at
Rio Ave F.C. also of the Portuguese top tier. In January 2020, not being part of manager
Carlos Carvalhal
Carlos Augusto Soares da Costa Faria Carvalhal (; born 4 December 1965) is a Portuguese former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back, currently a Manager (association football), ...
's plans, he was loaned to
Leixões S.C.
Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...
until June.
Joca joined Leixões on a permanent basis on 18 August 2020. In July 2021, however, he returned to the
Estádio dos Arcos on a one-year deal.
Rio Ave won the second division in
2021–22, with Joca contributing three goals from 31 matches.
He missed the vast majority of the
following season with a knee injury.
Career statistics
Honours
Rio Ave
*
Liga Portugal 2
The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pr ...
:
2021–22[
]
References
External links
*
Portuguese League profile
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joca
1996 births
Living people
21st-century Portuguese sportsmen
Portuguese men's footballers
Footballers from Braga
Men's association football midfielders
Primeira Liga players
Liga Portugal 2 players
S.C. Braga B players
C.D. Tondela players
Rio Ave F.C. players
Leixões S.C. players
Chinese Super League players
Wuhan Three Towns F.C. players
TFF 1. Lig players
Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers
Portugal men's youth international footballers
Portuguese expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in China
Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in China
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey