João Carlos Reis Graça (born 2 July 1989), known as Joãozinho, 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

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 ...

for

Clube Oriental de Lisboa Clube Oriental de Lisboa is a Portuguese football club based in Lisbon. Founded in 1946, it currently competes in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo Engenheiro Carlos Salema'', with an 8,500 capacity. History In January 19 ...

Club career

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 ...

, Joãozinho finished his development in the area with C.D. Olivais e Moscavide. His first years as a senior were spent with that club and neighbouring C.D. Mafra, always in the third division. Joãozinho moved straight to the

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 ...

in the summer of 2011 after signing with

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Ave ...

, initially on loan. He made his debut in the competition on 14 August, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 0–0 away draw against

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

. He finished the season with 26 appearances (24 starts), helping his team to finish 12th and thus avoid relegation. On 15 December 2012, Joãozinho scored his first goal in the Portuguese top flight, closing the 3–1 home win over

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

. He was loaned to

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,

the following 21 January, with the option to make the move permanent for

€ 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 million in June. This did not come to fruition, and he agreed to a five-year contract at

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

, being sparingly played until the departure of

Elderson Echiéjilé Elderson Uwa Echiéjilé (born 20 January 1988) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a left-back for Nigeria national team from 2009 until 2018. He began his career at Bendel Insurance and moved to Europe in 2007, joinin ...

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional association football, football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco, Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the Frenc ...

. On 22 July 2014, Joãozinho joined

FC Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier ...

from

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

on a year-long loan deal. After only six weeks, he left for Romanian side

FC Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club last based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spe ...

also on loan. For the 2015–16 campaign, still owned by Braga, Joãzinho signed with

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 ...

. In the following off-season, he agreed to a permanent two-year contract at

K.V. Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 20 ...

from the

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 ...

. Joãozinho returned to Portugal and its top tier on 6 June 2017, with the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

joining C.D. Tondela on a two-year deal. In January 2020, following a very brief spell in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

, he moved 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 ...

. On 2 August 2023, aged 34, Joãozinho returned to the

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pr ...

by signing for S.C.U. Torreense.

Career statistics

Honours

APOEL *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2019 Estoril *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joaozinho 1989 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players C.D. Olivais e Moscavide players C.D. Mafra players S.C. Beira-Mar players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Braga players S.C. Braga B players C.F. União players C.D. Tondela players G.D. Estoril Praia players S.C.U. Torreense players Clube Oriental de Lisboa players Moldovan Super Liga players FC Sheriff Tiraspol players Liga I players FC Astra Giurgiu players Belgian Pro League players K.V. Kortrijk players Cypriot First Division players APOEL FC players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus