João António Antunes Carvalho (born 9 March 1997) 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

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

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

Club career

Benfica

Born in

Castanheira de Pera Castanheira ( Portuguese: ''chestnut tree'') may refer to the following places: in Brazil * Castanheira, Mato Grosso, a municipality in the State of Mato Grosso * Castanheira, Belém, a neighbourhood of the city of Belém, in the State of Pará i ...

Leiria District The District of Leiria ( ) is a district located between the Oeste e Vale do Tejo and Centro regions of Portugal, and divided between the traditional provinces of Beira Litoral and Estremadura. It borders on the north with district of Coimbra, ...

, Carvalho joined

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

's youth system as an 8-year-old. On 11 January 2015, still a junior, he made his professional debut with their B team, coming on as a late substitute in a 3–2 home win against

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 ...

in the Segunda Liga. On 8 January 2017, Carvalho scored twice in a 3–2 home victory over Vitória S.C. B. Late in that month, he signed with

Vitória F.C. Vitória Futebol Clube (), popularly known as Vitória de Setúbal, is a Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Setúbal that used to compete in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system ...

on a half-year loan deal. He made his

debut with the latter on 5 February, replacing João Amaral late into the second half of an eventual 2–1 away loss to

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 scored his first goal in the competition on 19 March, helping to a 1–1 draw against

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 ...

at the

Estádio do Dragão The Estádio do Dragão (; ') is an all-seater football stadium in Porto, Portugal, and the home ground of FC Porto since 2003. It has a seating capacity of 50,033, making it the third-largest football stadium in Portugal. Designed by Portugue ...

. Carvalho made his competitive debut for Benfica's first team on 14 October 2017, featuring ten minutes in a 1–0 away defeat of

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

in the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

. His

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 ...

bow took place on 5 December, when he started the 0–2 group-stage home defeat against

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 ...

Nottingham Forest

On 14 June 2018, Carvalho signed a five-year contract with

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

side

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

for a club-record transfer fee of £13.2m (€15 million). He scored his first goal for them on 19 September in a 2–1 home win against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, finishing his first season with a further three as well as eight assists in a final ninth position. Carvalho struggled to make an impact during his

second year The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

. Following a pre-season injury, he did make a bright return by scoring a goal in a 3–0 victory over arch-rivals

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. However, he was largely limited to substitute appearances by

Sabri Lamouchi Sabri Lamouchi (born 9 November 1971) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. During his 19-year playing career, Lamouchi played for clubs in France, Italy and Qata ...

, making only nine starts as the manager was reportedly frustrated by the player's lack of determination to improve his performances in training when he was left out of the starting eleven. On 29 September 2020, Carvalho was loaned to

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

, with 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 ...

club having an option to make the deal permanent.

Olympiacos

On 29 January 2022, Carvalho joined

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Football Club ( ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Piraeus. Part of the major Sports club, multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (''Olympiakós Sýnde ...

for an undisclosed fee. He scored in 1–1

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

home draws against AEK Athens F.C. and

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

, helping his team to win their 47th national championship (third in a row).

Estoril

Carvalho was loaned to

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese professional sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its Association football, football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home g ...

for 2022–23. He scored his only goal of the campaign on 15 May 2023, his 40-metre strike in the 2–0 home win over

ensuring top-flight survival for another year. On 16 August 2024, Carvalho agreed to a permanent three-year contract.

Career statistics

Honours

Olympiacos *

: 2021–22 *

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

: 2023–24

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carvalho, Joao 1997 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Leiria District Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica B players Vitória F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers G.D. Estoril Praia players English Football League players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Segunda División players UD Almería players Super League Greece players Super League Greece 2 players Olympiacos F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. B players UEFA Conference League–winning players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece