José Júlio Gomes Gonçalves (born 17 September 1985) is a retired 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 played 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 ...

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 ...

. He started his career in Switzerland, moving to Scotland with Heart of Midlothian in 2006 and returning to the previous country after three seasons. He signed with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

in 2013, leaving three years later. Gonçalves represented

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 ...

at the 2007 European Under-21 Championship.

Club career

Early years

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 ...

to Portuguese people of

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

an descent, Gonçalves moved to Switzerland at the age of two. He joined

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

in 2002 at 17, but could never appear officially for the first team over the course of two seasons. Gonçalves split 2004–05 between

FC Winterthur FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur, Canton of Zürich. They play in the Swiss Super League, the first tier of Swiss football, and appeared regularly in the Nationalliga A during the 20th century. Their home is the Stad ...

( second division) and S.S.C. Venezia (

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

), returning to Switzerland for one additional campaign, with

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss association football, football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Super League from 2025–26, the top tier of the Swiss football league system, following promotion from the ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

; with the latter club he first competed in 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 ...

, playing in all six group stage games in an eventual third-place finish, with the subsequent

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 ...

to the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

Heart of Midlothian

After a trial spell, Everton decided not to pursue their interest in Gonçalves, while

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

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 ...

and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

were all linked to the player in the press. In January 2006, however, it was Heart of Midlothian that eventually acquired him, in a deal that saw him signed by owner

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf; ; born 15 June 1947)

's other club,

FBK Kaunas Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. History Banga Kaunas (1960–1993) The roots of the club can be traced back to 1960 when Banga Kaunas was founded and they p ...

, and then immediately loaned out to the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

side. Gonçalves made his official debut for Hearts in a 3–0 win against

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in the

2005–06 Scottish Cup The 2005–06 Scottish Cup was the 121st season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Tennent's Scottish Cup. The Cup was won by SPL club Heart of Midlothian who defeated Second ...

, although a series of injuries curtailed his appearances during his first year with the team. After a six-month lay-off to deal with hamstring, hip and toe complaints, he returned to action against

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

on 18 October. On 4 July 2008, Gonçalves signed a new contract with Hearts, being loaned to 1. FC Nürnberg from Germany on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long deal, with the 2. Bundesliga club having an option to sign him on a permanent deal. Despite the side boasting the best defensive record in the competition and earning promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

via the play-offs with an aggregate score of 5–0 against

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

, his season was interrupted by injury and the

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

ns decided against signing him. After featuring regularly for the Jambos in pre-season, Gonçalves made his first competitive appearance since his return in the team's opening fixture of 2009–10, a 2–0 defeat against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

Tannadice Park Tannadice Park, officially known as The CalForth Construction Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Du ...

. He scored his first goal for Hearts on 30 August 2009, heading home in a 2–2 draw at St Johnstone. Despite having an impressive first half of the season, Gonçalves was dropped from the team in January 2010, following the appointment of Jim Jefferies as manager. The latter stated the reason behind the former's omission from the squad was his refusal to sign a contract extension with the club, with his link due to expire at the end of the campaign. On 7 March 2010, he returned to the starting line-up in the 1–0 away defeat to Dundee United due to a number of injuries in the main squad, particularly in the defensive sector, and the coach confirmed after the game that he would not have selected the player if he had had enough fit players. On 18 June 2010, it was announced on Gonçalves' personal website that his management was in talks with Rangers, and that he hoped to have his future resolved within the next two or three weeks. However, negotiations broke down, and he also underwent a

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

operation in the summer. After leaving Hearts, Gonçalves reflects his time there, quoting: ''"I was in Scotland for four-and-a-half years and I had some great times. I only want the best for Hearts and I will always follow them, even when I stop playing because they are an old club of mine."''

Return to Switzerland

On 16 January 2011, Gonçalves signed a -year contract with FC St. Gallen in the top division. He scored his first goal for his new team in a 3–2 friendly victory over

FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss Association football, football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club set to plays in the Promotion League from 2025–26, the third tier of Swiss football after relegation from Challenge League (Switzerland), Ch ...

played the previous day. He made his competitive debut on 6 February, playing as a

centre 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 ...

in a 4–1 league defeat against

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

at the

AFG Arena The Kybunpark, formerly known as AFG Arena, is a multi-use stadium in St. Gallen, Switzerland, completed in 2008. It is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of FC St. Gallen of the Swiss Super League. It replaces the Es ...

. On 3 April 2011, upon his return from a one-game suspension, Gonçalves scored his first goal for St. Gallen in a 1–1 draw at

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (). It is best known for its professional association football, football team, which plays in the Swiss Super League, Super League, the top tier of the ...

. 17 days later, in his tenth official appearance, he earned his first win, a 3–1 victory over Grasshoppers at

Letzigrund Letzigrund () is a stadium in Zurich, Switzerland, the home of the football (soccer), football clubs FC Zürich and Grasshopper Club Zürich, as well as the Sport of athletics, athletics club . The original stadium was constructed by members of FC ...

. He started in all the league games he appeared in, but could not help prevent the side's eventual relegation, as last. On 10 June 2011, Gonçalves informed St. Gallen that he would be invoking a clause in his contract, which allowed him to sever ties with the club in the event of relegation, joining

FC Sion Football Club Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss Association football, football club from the city of Sion, Switzerland, Sion. The club was founded in 1909 and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have wo ...

shortly after. He was considered ineligible to play competitive football for his new team due to the sanctions imposed on it following the transfer of Essam El-Hadary in 2008; thus, he missed the start of the season. Despite warnings from

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, Gonçalves was named on the bench on 13 August 2011 for a league match against Luzern, but did not appear in the game. He made his debut for Sion against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, in a 0–0 away draw for the Europa League play-off round five days later; his league debut arrived still in the month, in a 2–0 victory at Lausanne-Sport.

New England Revolution

On 3 January 2013, Gonçalves moved on loan with the

. His first competitive appearance took place on 9 March in a 1–0 win against the

Chicago Fire Soccer Club Chicago Fire Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Chicago. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Fire play their home games at Soldier Field, which they share wit ...

, and he scored his first goal for them off a header in a 2–0 win over the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

, on 20 July. On 12 October 2013, according to MLSSoccer.com's Power Rankings editors, Gonçalves had "perhaps the best game any defender has played in MLS this season", scoring once and guiding the defense to a crucial 1–0 shutout of the Montreal Impact to keep the Revolution's playoff hopes afloat. The following week, in the side's last home game of the year, a 3–2 win over the Crew that secured the final playoff spot with one game left, he was given the Man of the Year award by the Midnight Riders supporters group; that same night, he was honored with the Best Defender award by the team. Gonçalves was the only player to play every single minute for his team during the season. On 22 November 2013, the club exercised the purchase option on his loan from Sion and exercised his 2014 contract option to keep him for the next year. In January 2017, Gonçalves' contract expired and the Revolution did not express interest in renewing it.

NorthEast United

On 13 September 2017, Gonçalves signed for

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

franchise

NorthEast United FC NorthEast United Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded on 13 April 2014 during the inaugural sea ...

FC Zürich U21

In the beginning of 2019, Gonçalves joined

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

and was going to play for their U21 / reserve team. In March 2019 he said in an interview: ''I'm here to mentor these young people, to help them progress''. He also revealed, that he had just passed his CAS (Certitifcat of Advanced Studies) in Sports Management at the University of St. Gallen. After retiring from professional football he became team manager at FC Zürich in September 2021.

International career

Gonçalves was eligible to represent

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at international level. He chose to play for the second, earning three

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 the under-21 side and representing the nation at the 2007 UEFA European Championship, appearing 57 minutes in the 0–0 group stage draw to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in an eventual group stage exit. On 31 September 2009, after solid displays for Hearts, Gonçalves earned a place in

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football manager. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Iran, Colombia, Egypt and Qatar, leading ...

's provisional Portugal squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifiers against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. However, he missed out on the final list of 22.

Personal life

Gonçalves speaks six languages in total – Italian, French, German, Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Honours

Individual *

MLS Defender of the Year The Major League Soccer Defender of the Year Award is an annual award handed out to the top defender in Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest lev ...

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. The selection is determined by a collection of media, players, and MLS club technical staffs. Winners Appearances by player The following players ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Midnight Riders Man of the Year: 2013

References

External links

* * * *
José Gonçalves Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goncalves, Jose 1985 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Cape Verdean descent Swiss people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent Swiss people of Cape Verdean descent Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Yverdon-Sport FC players FC Basel players FC Winterthur players FC Thun players FC St. Gallen players FC Sion players Serie B players Venezia FC players FBK Kaunas footballers Scottish Premier League players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players 2. Bundesliga players 1. FC Nürnberg players Major League Soccer players New England Revolution players Designated Players (MLS) Indian Super League players NorthEast United FC players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in India Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Portugal men's B international footballers 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen