Josué Humberto Gonçalves Leal de Sá (born 17 June 1992) 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

central defender 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

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

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

. He made over 100

appearances for Vitória de Guimarães and Rio Ave, while also having brief spells in five foreign countries. Sá represented Portugal at youth level.

Club career

Vitória Guimarães

Born in

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 ...

, Sá spent nine of his formative years with local

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,

, signing with

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, popularly known as Vitória de Guimarães or sometimes just Vitória, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Est ...

at the age of 17. He started his senior career in 2011, being loaned by the latter to third division club G.D. Chaves. Subsequently returned to

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...

, Sá initially alternated between the first team and the recently created reserve side in the Segunda Liga. His first appearance in the

with the former was on 20 January 2013, when he came on as a late substitute in a 3−1 away win against Rio Ave FC. Sá scored his first goal in the Portuguese top tier on 7 November 2014, in a 2−1 away victory over

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a professional Association football, football club based in the Porto metropolitan area. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,600-seat capac ...

. He added another one during the season from 26 appearances, helping to an eventual fifth-place finish and

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. On 6 May 2016, Sá renewed his contract until 2019, with the release clause being improved from

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

3 to 8 million.

Anderlecht

Sá joined R.S.C. Anderlecht on 31 August 2017, after agreeing to a four-year deal. He made his

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

debut on 1 October, playing the entire 1–0 home victory over

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. Sá spent the following two seasons on loan, to Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

's Kasımpaşa S.K. and

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

of the Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. On 22 December 2019, he scored the winner for the latter in a 2–1 home defeat of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese rivals

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, en route to promotion as champions.

Later career

On 2 October 2020, Sá joined

PFC Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

of the

First Professional Football League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

on a three-year contract. After winning the league in his first season, he was voted Player of the Month in August 2021, having scored twice. He moved to his fifth foreign country the following 2 February, joining

Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club (; ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Tel Aviv'') is an Israeli professional football club from Tel Aviv and part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Sport Club. Founded in 1906 in Jaffa as the HaRishon Le Zion-Yafo Association, i ...

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 ...

on loan for the rest of the campaign. Sá returned to his country's top flight on 26 August 2022, signing a two-year deal with the option of a third at newly promoted Rio Ave. In July 2024, he joined Gil Vicente F.C. in the same league.

International career

Four youth levels comprised, Sá won 28

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. His first for the under-21s arrived on 25 March 2013, in a 2−1 friendly defeat of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

held in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

Career statistics

Honours

Huesca *

: 2019–20 Ludogorets Razgrad *

First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

: 2020–21, 2021–22 Individual *First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) Goal of the Week: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sa, Josue 1992 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Vitória S.C. players G.D. Chaves players Vitória S.C. B players Rio Ave F.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players Belgian Pro League players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Süper Lig players Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Segunda División players SD Huesca footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Israel