José Pedro da Silva Figueiredo Freitas (born 6 June 1997), known as Zé Pedro, 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

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Zé Pedro was born in

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...

. He started playing football with local

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 ...

at the age of nine, and finished his youth career at

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 ...

. Zé Pedro spent his first six seasons as a senior in the Portuguese third division, with Vizela, Torcatense,

Fafe Fafe (), officially the City of Fafe (), is a city and municipality in the northern Portuguese district of Braga. The population in 2021 was 48,502, in an area of approximately . The city itself had a population of 15,703 in 2011. The present ma ...

, Braga B and

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD (), sometimes just Estrela da Amadora, is a Portuguese professional sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. The team is currently competing in the Primeira Liga, after winnin ...

. He helped the latter club to promote 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 ...

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 ...

by contributing 28 games and five goals, adding a further five appearances at it reached the round of 16 in 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 ...

Porto

On 21 July 2021, Zé Pedro signed a three-year contract with

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 ...

250,000 and 80% of his sporting rights, being assigned to the reserve side in the second division. He made his debut as a professional on 7 August in a 2–2 home draw against Trofense, scoring his first league goal the following month to help the hosts defeat

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. From 2013 to 2023, it was a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Ministe ...

3–1. Zé Pedro made his competitive debut for the first team on 15 December 2021, playing the entire 1–0 win over Rio Ave 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 ...

of 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 ...

as they were already eliminated. On 7 August 2023, he extended his link until 2026, and his

bow took place on 29 September in a 1–0 loss at Benfica; habitual starters

Iván Marcano Iván Marcano Sierra (; born 23 June 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Primeira Liga club Porto as a central defender. After starting out at Racing de Santander and appearing for the club in La Liga, he went on to spend t ...

and

Pepe Pepe is a pet form of the Spanish and Portuguese name José (Joseph). It is also a surname. * People Mononyms *Pepe (footballer, born 1935), Brazilian footballer José Macia *Pepe (footballer, born 1983), Brazilian-born Portuguese footballer ...

were injured, and he came on as a 25th-minute substitute for Romário Baró after

Fábio Cardoso Fábio Rafael Rodrigues Cardoso (born 19 April 1994) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Emirati club Al Ain, on loan from Porto. Formed at Benfica, where he played only in the reserves, he made over 150 Pri ...

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 ...

. He scored his first goal in the top tier on 9 December, in a 3–1 home victory against

Casa Pia The Casa Pia is a Portuguese institution founded by Maria I, known as ''A Pia'' ("Mary the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendant Pina Manique in 1780, following the social disarray of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. For almost three centurie ...

Career statistics

Honours

Porto *

: 2023–24 *

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 ...

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 ...

Individual *

Defender of the Month: October/November 2023

References

External links

Porto official profile

Portuguese League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedro, Ze 1997 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Guimarães Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players F.C. Vizela players AD Fafe players S.C. Braga B players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players FC Porto B players FC Porto players