Eduardo Gabriel Aquino Cossa (born 24 February 1997), commonly known as Pepê, is a Brazilian 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 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

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 ...

and the Brazil national team. Mainly a winger, he can also play as a

right-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 ...

. Formed at

Foz do Iguaçu Foz do Iguaçu (; "Iguazu River mouth"), colloquially referred to as Foz, is the Brazilian city on the border of Iguaçu Falls. Foz in Portuguese language, Portuguese means the mouth or end of a river and Iguaçu in Guarani language, Guarani or Tup ...

, he spent five years at Grêmio, where he made 144 appearances and scored 32 goals, while winning the

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

four consecutive times.

Club career

Foz do Iguaçu

Born in

Paraná state Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology *Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city * Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province In Brazil *Paraná (state), a state ...

, Pepê graduated from the youth academy of hometown club Foz do Iguaçu Futebol Clube and spent part of the 2016 season with

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as heCoxa, is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909 by German immigrants, it is the olde ...

. Ahead of the 2015 season, he was promoted to the senior team. During the 2016 Paranaense, he scored three goals including a brace against Paraná.

Grêmio

On 4 April 2016, Pepê joined Série A side Grêmio. On 28 May 2017, he made his Série A debut, coming on as a substitute for Everton in a 4–3 victory against Sport Recife. On 3 December, he scored his first goal for the club in a 4–3 defeat against

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. On 8 January 2018, Pepê extended his contract until 2020. On 7 August, he made his

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

debut, starting in a 2–1 defeat against Argentinian club Estudiantes. His contract was further extended to 2022 on 26 September. Pepê scored three goals in eight games as the team from

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

made 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 ...

of the

2020 Copa Libertadores The 2020 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 61st edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBOL ...

, including the only goal of an away win over ''

Grenal The Grenal (also Gre-Nal, plural Grenais), ongoing since 1909, is the rivalry between the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre's biggest football clubs, Grêmio and Internacional, usually contested in the '' Gauchão'', the Rio Grande do Sul state ...

'' rivals Internacional on 23 September in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. In the reverse fixture on 12 March, he came on as a substitute and was one of eight players – split equally between the two teams – to be

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 brawl. In the year's national championship, he scored nine times, a personal best, including one in a draw away to Inter on 3 October and two in a 3–1 win over

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

eleven days later.

Porto

On 18 February 2021, Pepê signed with

side

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 ...

, on a contract effective from 1 July and lasting until 2026. The €15 million fee was paid 70% to Grêmio and the remainder to Foz do Iguaçu, to be issued in four installments over the following two years; Grêmio would receive 12.5% of a future sale. He made his debut on 8 August, replacing Mehdi Taremi for the last eight minutes of a 2–0 home win over

Belenenses SAD B-SAD was a Portuguese football club currently based in Almada, founded on 30 June 2018 as an independent entity. An offshoot of Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, they played four seasons in the Primeira Liga, being relegated to the Liga Portugal ...

. He scored his first goal on 19 September to conclude a 5–0 win over Moreirense also 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 ...

''. On 28 November 2023, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 2–1 away defeat against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

International career

Pepê was born in Brazil, and is of Italian descent through his father and Paraguayan descent through his mother. He represented the Brazil U23s for the

2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament was the 13th edition of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted association football, football tournament organised by the CONMEBOL, Confederación Sudamericana ...

. On 6 November 2023, Pepê received his first Brazil senior team call-up, ahead of 2026 World Cup qualifiers against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. He made his debut against the former, on 17 November, coming off the bench to replace Renan Lodi in the 81st minute of a 2–1 away loss.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Grêmio *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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 ...

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

runner-up:

Porto *

: 2021–22 *

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 ...

: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 *

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 ...

: 2022–23 *

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 ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Porto website {{DEFAULTSORT:Pepe 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Foz do Iguaçu Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football utility players Brazilian people of Paraguayan descent Brazilian people of Italian descent Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Foz do Iguaçu Futebol Clube players Grêmio FBPA players Primeira Liga players FC Porto players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Footballers from Paraná (state) 2024 Copa América players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen