Joel Vieira Pereira (born 28 September 1996) 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

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

Club career

Pereira was born in the village of Perosinho 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 ...

. He played youth football for four clubs, including

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

from ages 11 to 17; he finished his development 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 16 September 2015, Pereira made his professional debut with Vitória's reserves in the

LigaPro 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 ...

, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 home draw against

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese sports club based in the parish of Alcântara, in the west side of Lisbon. The club was established on 18 September 1942 through the merger of two local clubs from Alcântara: Carcavelinhos Football ...

. In the 2017 January

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 ...

he signed with fellow second-tier team Académico de Viseu FC, being voted the league's best right-back at the end of the 2017–18 season alongside

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

Diogo Dalot José Diogo Dalot Teixeira (; born 18 March 1999) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, full back for club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United and the Port ...

. Subsequently, Pereira took his game to the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

, first with

Doxa Katokopias FC Doxa Katokopias FC () is a Cypriot professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word) ...

then

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also Romanization of Greek, transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional multi-sport club, esta ...

. On 31 January 2020, the latter club loaned him to

Slovak Super Liga The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Football in Slovakia, Slovak football league system. It was formed ...

FC Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Football in Slovakia#System, Slovak league system, hav ...

on a six-month loan deal with an option to buy, being signed at the request of manager Ricardo Chéu and reuniting with his former Doxa teammate Bogdan Mitrea. Pereira was loaned to Gil Vicente F.C. on 13 August 2020. He made his debut in the Portuguese

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 27 September, playing the entire 1–0 victory over

Portimonense S.C. Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese footbal ...

at the

Estádio Cidade de Barcelos The Estádio Cidade de Barcelos is a multi-use stadium in Barcelos, Portugal. It is mostly used for football matches. It is the home of Primeira Liga side Gil Vicente. The stadium is able to hold 12,046 people and was built in 2004. It replaced ...

. On 31 May 2021, Pereira signed a four-year contract with Polish club

. During his spell, he won two

championships.

Career statistics

Honours

Lech Poznań *

: 2021–22, 2024–25 *Ekstraklasa Goal of the Season: 2024–25

References

External links

*
Portuguese League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pereira, Joel 1996 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Vila Nova de Gaia Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Padroense F.C. players Vitória S.C. B players Académico de Viseu F.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Doxa Katokopias FC players AC Omonia players Slovak First Football League players FC Spartak Trnava players Ekstraklasa players II liga players Lech Poznań players Lech Poznań II players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Poland