José Carlos Teixeira Lopes dos Reis Gonçalves (born 31 July 1998), known as Zé Carlos, 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

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 ...

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

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

Club career

Born in

Lousada Lousada () is a town and municipality of the Porto district, in northern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 47,387, in an area of 96.08 km². It includes the site of Ancient Magnetum (Portuguese Magneto), in the civil parish Meinedo, which ...

Porto District The Districts of Portugal, District of Porto ( ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro (district), Aveiro and Viseu (distric ...

, Zé Carlos spent most of his youth career with

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...

before beginning as a senior in the lower leagues with S.C. Salgueiros and Leça FC. In January 2018 he returned to Leixões on a 2-year deal to cover the injury of Edu Machado. He made his professional debut in

LigaPro 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 ...

on 8 February in a 1–0 win against

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

at home. On 30 July 2020, Zé Carlos signed a four-year contract with

club

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 ...

. He played his first match in the competition on 28 December, coming on as a 50th-minute substitute for Nuno Sequeira in the 4–1 away victory over

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Estádio do Bessa. It is one of the oldest clubs ...

. Zé Carlos spent the following two seasons on loan, at

Gil Vicente FC Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Barcelos. It plays their home matches at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the ...

(twice) and UD Ibiza (Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

). In his first spell at the former, he was a key member of a Ricardo Soares-led side that

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

– first ever in their history – after a fifth-place finish. On 21 June 2023, Braga announced the transfer of Zé Carlos to Gil Vicente on a permanent basis, while retaining 50% of the player's economic rights; he agreed to a three-year deal.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ze Carlos 1998 births Living people People from Lousada 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Porto District Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players S.C. Salgueiros players Leça F.C. players Leixões S.C. players S.C. Braga players Gil Vicente F.C. players Segunda División players UD Ibiza players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain