João Pedro Barradas Novais (born 10 July 1993) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

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 Rio Ave. He played 159

games and scored 13 goals for Rio Ave and

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, winning the

2019–20 Taça da Liga The 2019–20 Taça da Liga was the thirteenth edition of the Taça da Liga (also known as Allianz Cup for sponsorship reasons), a football league cup competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional and contested exclusively ...

and the 2020–21 Taça de Portugal with the latter club, as well as having spells in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Club career

Leixões

Born 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 metropolitan area The Porto Metropolitan Area (; abbreviated as AMP) is a metropolitan area in northern Portugal centered on the City of Porto, Portugal's second largest city.Fernanda Paula Oliveira (2009), The metropolitan area, covering 17 municipalities, is th ...

, Novais was in the youth ranks of

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 ...

before concluding his development at nearby Leixões SC. He scored his first professional goal on 11 May 2014 in the final game of the Segunda Liga season, a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

to equalise in a 1–1 home draw against

C.F. União Clube de Futebol União, commonly known as União da Madeira, was a Portuguese association football, football club based in Funchal, Madeira, notable for its six season in the Portuguese top-flight Primeira Liga, between the 1989–90 Primeira D ...

Rio Ave

On 3 July 2015, Novais signed for

club Rio Ave F.C. on a four-year deal. He scored twice in his first season with the team from

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km2. The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of ...

, including the leveller in a 1–1 draw at Porto on 6 January. In 2017–18 he recorded a career-best eight league goals (mostly from free kicks), and two more in the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

in a 3–2 group stage home win over former team Leixões.

Braga

Novais transferred to fellow top-flight club S.C. Braga in May 2018, on a five-year deal after activating his

€ 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 ...

1.5 million

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in an employment contract. It allows the employee to terminate the contract unilaterally upon payment of a specified (usually substantial) fee to the employer. The fee may be paid by the employ ...

. He scored his first goal on 16 August in a 2–2 home draw with

FC Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk was based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team currently plays its games at Slavutych-Arena in Zaporizhzhia. The modern club as a ...

in the

third qualifying 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 (dis ...

of 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 ...

, though his side was eliminated on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

; his first league season at the

Estádio Municipal de Braga The Estádio Municipal de Braga (') is an All-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium located in Braga, Portugal, and the current home of S.C. Braga, Sporting Clube de Braga. It has a capacity of 30,286 spectators, maki ...

yielded one goal, consolation in the 6–2 away loss to

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 " ...

on 23 December. On 25 January 2020, Novais was a last-minute substitute for

João Palhinha João Maria Lobo Alves Palhares Costa Palhinha Gonçalves (; born 9 July 1995) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Portugal national team. He came through at Spo ...

in the League Cup final, which his team won 1–0 against Porto. Four days later he was sent off at the end of a 2–1 victory at nearby Moreirense F.C. for a foul on Abdu Conté, and missed the next game against

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,

through suspension. In the following season's

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 ...

, he scored a

in a 7–0 defeat of Clube Olímpico do Montijo in the fourth round, and came off the bench in the 2–1 final win over Benfica on 23 May 2021. Novais was loaned to

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü, known as Corendon Alanyaspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are play ...

of the 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 ...

on 19 August 2021 with an option to buy. He shared teams with compatriots José Marafona,

Daniel Candeias Daniel João Santos Candeias (born 25 February 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish TFF First League club Adanaspor. He was on the books of both Porto and Benfica, where he was mostly loaned out, a ...

and

Wilson Eduardo Wilson Bruno Naval da Costa Eduardo (born 8 July 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Primeira Liga club Alverca. He was formed at Sporting CP, but spent most of his time out on loan. In 2015 he joined Braga, with who ...

during his one season.

Al Bataeh

Novais cancelled the last year of his Braga contract on 11 August 2022, and signed for

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

side Al Bataeh Club. He scored on his debut on 2 September, concluding a 2–0 win at Ittihad Kalba FC on the first day of the campaign.

Return to Alanyaspor

On 11 July 2023, Novais returned to Alanyaspor on a two-year deal.

Personal life

Novais' father Abílio also played as a midfielder, being best known for his spell at S.C. Salgueiros in the late 1990s.

Honours

Braga *

: 2020–21 *

: 2019–20

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Novais, Joao 1993 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Vila Nova de Gaia Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Padroense F.C. players Leixões S.C. players Rio Ave F.C. players S.C. Braga players Süper Lig players Alanyaspor footballers UAE Pro League players Al Bataeh Club players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates