Pedro António Pereira Gonçalves (; born 28 June 1998), also known as Pote, 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. ...

or winger 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

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,

and the Portugal national team. Gonçalves started his career with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, before signing for newly promoted

side Famalicão in 2019. After being named Primeira Liga's Best Young Player of the Year in 2020, he signed for fellow Primeira Liga side

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,

. There, he won the Bola de Prata for being the top scorer in the Primeira Liga, and was the league's top assist provider in consecutive seasons in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. He is a former Portugal youth international, representing his country at under-18, under-20 and under-21 levels. He made his senior international debut in 2021, being chosen in Portugal's squad for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

Early life

Born in the village of

Vidago Vidago is a village and a former-civil parish in the municipality of Chaves, in the Portuguese district of Vila Real. Until its merger into the parish of Vidago, Arcossó, Selhariz e Vilarinho das Paranheiras, the civil parish administered an ar ...

, a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

in Chaves,

Vila Real District The District of Vila Real ( ) is a district of northern Portugal. With an area of , the district is located east of the port city of Porto and north of the Douro, Douro River. Vila Real has always belonged to the historical province of Trás- ...

, Gonçalves' father died a month after his birth. He started his career at Vidago at the age of 8, where his mother worked as the kit provider. He was integrated into the club's youth team by vice president José Sousa, after being a regular presence around the premises. Due to being chubby and short during his childhood, he earned the nickname "Potinho" and later "Pote".

Club career

Early career

Following his performances in Vidago, Gonçalves caught the attention of his hometown club G.D. Chaves, joining the club's youth system at the age of 11. Two years later, he was taken to

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 ...

by Jorge Pires, whose father was a friend of Pedro's father, usually travelling one hour for each training session. After passing his trial aged 13, Gonçalves moved to the city of

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 ...

, living in the house of a lady with two other teammates. He stayed in the youth system for five years, but left the club following the departure of his manager Agostinho Oliveira, whose contract was not renewed. Upon learning of the situation,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

's coach

Nuno Espírito Santo Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo (born 25 January 1974), known as Nuno Espírito Santo or simply Nuno, is a Portuguese-São Toméan Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a Goalkee ...

offered him a professional contract, integrating him into the club's youth teams, with Pedro easily adapting to his new life in Spain and becoming club captain.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

In July 2017, Gonçalves signed a two-year contract with English club

. He made his only competitive appearance for the first team on 28 August 2018, in a 2–0 away 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 ...

in the second round 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 ...

, coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute for Elliot Watt.

Famalicão

Gonçalves returned to Portugal on 2 July 2019, joining newly promoted Famalicão on a five-year deal, citing homesickness during his time in England, as one of the reasons for his transfer. He made his

debut on 10 August, playing the entire 2–0 victory at Santa Clara. His first goal was scored one month later, helping the hosts beat

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

in a 4–2 victory. During his spell at the ''

Estádio Municipal 22 de Junho Estádio Municipal de Famalicão is a multi-use stadium in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home stadium of FC Famalicão who currently compete in the Primeira Liga, ...

'', Gonçalves established himself as a regular at midfield and made a significant contribution to the team's strong start to the season, becoming club captain in January 2020, scoring seven times and providing eight assists in all competitions from 40 appearances, helping the club to a record sixth-place finish in the league. Following his good performance for Famalicão, during the season, he was named the Primeira Liga's Best Young Player of the Year.

Sporting CP

2020–21: First Primeira Liga title and league top scorer

On 18 August 2020, Gonçalves signed a five-year contract with

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,

of the same league, for a fee of €6.5 million for half of his economic rights. On 1 October, he made his debut for the club in a 4–1 home loss against

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

in the play-off round 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 ...

, as a 67th-minute substitute for

Luciano Vietto Luciano Darío Vietto (; born 5 December 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Racing Club. Club career Early career Vietto was born in the small town of Balnearia in the Province of Córdoba. He joined hi ...

. With two goals in a 4–0 win over

Tondela Tondela () is a concelho, municipality in the Centro, Portugal, central Portugal, Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km2. History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carv ...

on 1 November, he reached five goals in his first six league games, second-best in the league. On 5 December, he scored and was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 2–2 draw at his previous club; this was his tenth goal over six consecutive matches. On 15 May 2021, Gonçalves scored two goals in a 4–3 away loss against Benfica in the

Lisbon derby The Derby de Lisboa or Dérbi de Lisboa (English: Lisbon derby) is the biggest List of association football club rivalries in Europe#Portugal, football derby match in Portugal. It is played between Lisbon-based clubs S.L. Benfica, Benfica and Spo ...

, marking the first and only defeat for Sporting in the league. Four days later, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 5–1 home thrashing of Marítimo, taking his tally up to 23 goals, finishing as the top scorer in the league, being awarded the Bola de Prata, while also surpassing Benfica's

Haris Seferovic Haris Seferovic (, ; born 22 February 1992) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a striker for UAE Pro League club Al-Nasr. Seferovic made his professional debut at Grasshopper in April 2009. Shortly afterwards, in January 2010, he ...

by one goal to win the individual accolade and becoming the first national player since

Domingos Paciência Domingos José Paciência Oliveira, known simply as Domingos as a player (; born 2 January 1969), is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. He achieved success with both Porto and the Portugal national te ...

in 1996 to do so. On 8 July, Gonçalves was awarded the Primeira Liga's Young Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.

2021–22: Second Taça da Liga

On 31 July, Gonçalves scored a goal in the 2–1 defeat of

in the

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

, and was named man of the match. From 6 August until 14 August, he scored three goals in two consecutive league matches in a 3–0 home victory over against newly promoted side

Vizela Vizela () is a municipality in the Braga District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 23,736, in an area of 24.70 km². The present mayor is Vitor Hugo Salgado, elected as an independent. The municipal holiday is March 19. History In Au ...

, and in a 2–1 away victory against Braga, leading him to be named the Primeira Liga's Midfielder of the Month in August. At the end of the month, he injured his left foot, causing him to be sidelined for almost two months. On 29 October, he agreed to a contract extension, tying him to the club until 2026 and increasing his

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 ...

from €60 million to €80 million. On 3 November, he scored his first two

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 ...

goals in a 4–0 home group stage victory against

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

, and was named man of the match. He repeated the feat three weeks later in a 3–1 win against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, ensuring the team's qualification to the round of sixteen for the first time since the 2008–09 season. In doing so, he became the second Portuguese player after

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

to score two or more in consecutive Champions League matches. His second season would be marked by continuous injuries resulted in Gonçalves performances declining, finishing the season appearing in 31 games, scoring 14 goals and providing 7 assists, which resulted in him being the highest contributor of his team that season.

2022–25: Primeira Liga's top assist provider and consecutive league titles

Gonçalves started the season by scoring in a 3–3 away draw to Braga on 7 August, followed by a brace against Rio Ave a week later. He quickly regained his form from last season, scoring three goals and providing three assists in September, despite his team poor run of form, sometimes filling as a number 8, when his teammates were sidelined with an injury. On 16 March 2023, he scored an equalizer from almost half-way pitch in a 1–1 away draw against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, with his team progressing to the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

, beating by

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 ...

after a 3–3 aggregate score in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Gonçalves' goal was later considered the Best Goal of the 2022–23 edition of the competition. He ended the season as the club's top scorer with 20 goals, and the Primeira Liga's top assist provider with 11 assists in total. Ahead of the 2023–24 season, Sporting handed Gonçalves the number 8 shirt, who had previously belonged to

Matheus Nunes Matheus Luiz Nunes (born 27 August 1998) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder or Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back for club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and the Portugal nat ...

and Bruno Fernandes. Sporting also acquired 40 of the 50% of Gonçalves' economic still held by Famalicão, for a fee of €7.7 million. On 19 December, he closed the 2–0 league victory at home to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, netting his first goal against the opposition and as a result allowing his side to overtake rivals Benfica at the top of the Primeira Liga table. Over the following months, Gonçalves formed an attacking trio with

Francisco Trincão Francisco António Machado Mota de Castro Trincão (; born 29 December 1999) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP and the Portugal national team. He started his career with Braga B, ...

and striker

Viktor Gyökeres Viktor Einar Gyökeres (; born 4 June 1998) is a Swedish professional association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP and the Sweden men's national football team, Sweden ...

, that led Sporting mathematically securing their 20th Primeira Liga title, following Benfica's defeat to Famalicão on 5 May, with Gonçalves registering 12 assists, finishing as the league's top assist provider for the second consecutive season. The following season, he spent most of the season injured, only playing eight league matches, however, on 17 May, he scored Sporting's first goal in a 2–0 victory over

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

as Sporting won the league for the second consecutive season, their first time in 71 years; this was Gonçalves' third Primeira League title. On 25 May, Gonçalves helped Sporting win the Taça de Portugal final against Benfica, by the score of 3–1, winning their first

domestic double The Double, in association football, is the achievement of winning a country's top tier division and its primary domestic cup competition in the same season. The lists in this article examine this definition of a double, while derivative sectio ...

since the 2001–02 season.

International career

Youth

Gonçalves began his international career with under-18 level in 2016. In March 2018, he was called up to the under-20 level to play two friendlies, against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

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 under-21 level on 4 September 2020, in a 4–0 win in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

for the 2021 UEFA European Championship qualifiers. On 13 October, in another away fixture for the same competition, he scored twice against

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in a 3–0 away victory. On 15 March 2021, Gonçalves was selected by Rui Jorge for his

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association ...

squad.

Senior

Having already participated in the first stage of the under-21 finals, in May 2021 Gonçalves was selected by Fernando Santos for his

squad due to the delay caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He made his full debut the following 4 June, playing the second half of the 0–0 friendly draw with

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. Gonçalves ended up not playing for Portugal in the Euro 2020 in an eventual round-of-16 exit. In October 2022, he was named in Portugal's preliminary 55-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar, but did not make the final cut.

Style of play

During his time with Famalicão, Gonçalves played predominantly as a

central 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 ...

at a deeper position. Under manager

Ruben Amorim Ruben Filipe Marques Amorim (; born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese Professional association football, professional football Manager (association football), manager, a former player and the current manager of Premier League club Manchester Unit ...

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,

, Gonçalves was deployed as an

or a

right winger 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. ...

in the team's 3–4–2–1 or 3–4–3 formations, during which, he is allowed the freedom to fluidly move, coming infield to get close to the central striker or pulling off to the edge of the box. Gonçalves also has good ball control and balance, which allows him to roam around the attacking areas of the pitch. While playing as a

false 9 In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bei ...

, Gonçalves contributes to the possession of his team dropping deep to pick up possession and when receiving the ball in these half-spaces, his spatial awareness allows him to reliably transfer the ball to a dangerous area of the pitch.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sporting CP *

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 ...

, 2023–24, 2024–25 *

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 ...

: 2024–25 *

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 ...

, 2021–22 *

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 ...

Portugal *

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

: 2024–25 Individual *Primeira Liga Best Young Player of the Year: 2019–20,

* Primeira Liga top scorer: 2020–21 *Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2019–20,

, 2023–24 *Primeira Liga top assist provider:

2022–23 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 ...

, 2023–24 *

Goal of the Season:

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goncalves, Pedro 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Chaves, Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Primeira Liga players F.C. Famalicão players Sporting CP footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Footballers from Vila Real District 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen