João Carlos Silva Faria (born 12 July 1990) 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

centre-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 Liga 3 club

Vilaverdense Vilaverdense F.C. (known for 4 years as Länk FC Vilaverdense) is a Portuguese football club based in Vila Verde in the district of Braga. They currently play in the Liga 3, the third tier of Portuguese football. The club is affiliated to ...

. He played 47 games in Portugal's second tier for Benfica B, Famalicão and Trofense, but spent most of his career at a lower level, winning the third division with Varzim in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and Trofense in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Club career

Born in Barcelos, Faria spent his first three years as a senior in the third division, with G.D. Ribeirão (two seasons) and

Varzim SC Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

. In the summer of 2012 he signed with

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 " ...

, being assigned to the reserve team in the Segunda Liga. Faria made his debut as a professional on 26 August 2012, appearing in a 2–1 away loss against

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, was a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it last played in the Division of Honour i ...

. On 28 January of the following year he moved to Spain, agreeing to a three-and-a-half-year contract with

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

club

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

. Having played only three games in Spain, Faria returned to Portugal in the summer of 2013 to play in the third tier with Ribeirão,

Vilaverdense FC Vilaverdense F.C. (known for 4 years as Länk FC Vilaverdense) is a Portuguese football club based in Vila Verde in the district of Braga. They currently play in the Liga 3, the third tier of Portuguese football. The club is affiliated to ...

and

Merelinense FC Merelinense Futebol Clube also known as Merelinense FC is a Portuguese football club from São Pedro de Merelim in Braga and founded in 1938. Merelinense FC currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal. They curr ...

. In June 2017 he stepped back up to division two on a two-year deal at

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tie ...

. He scored his one goal at the level on 25 November, opening a 6–0 home win over

Sporting CP B Sporting Clube de Portugal B is the reserve team of Portuguese football club Sporting CP, a team based in Lisbon. Reserve teams in Portugal play in the same league system as the senior team, rather than in a reserve team league. However, they cann ...

. After two years with

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese professional association football, football club that plays in Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Vizela and play in the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Viz ...

, Faria joined fellow third-tier side C.D. Trofense on 17 May 2020. He won the league title in his first season, and scored the equaliser on 23 August 2021 as they came from behind to defeat F.C. Penafiel 2–1 at home near the start of the new campaign. On 31 January 2022, Faria signed for

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portugal, Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football (soccer), football te ...

of Liga 3. The

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 ...

ended in promotion, despite a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

loss to S.C.U. Torreense in the final. Faria remained in the third division, returning to Varzim after a decade away on 22 June 2022. On 16 October, at his hometown's

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 ...

, he scored the only goal of a victory over

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,

in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

of 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 ...

International career

Faria earned six

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 at under-20 and under-21 level, all in friendly matches on home soil. The first was on 28 January 2010 in a 2–2 draw with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in Óbidos, and the last was on 25 March 2011 in a 2–0 win against 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. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Faria, Joao 1990 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Barcelos, Portugal Men's association football central defenders Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Liga 3 (Portugal) players Gil Vicente F.C. players G.D. Ribeirão players Varzim S.C. players S.L. Benfica B players Vilaverdense FC players Merelinense F.C. players F.C. Famalicão players F.C. Vizela players C.D. Trofense players U.D. Oliveirense players Segunda División B players UD Salamanca players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain