João Alves
Encyclopedia
João Artur Rosa Alves is a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 footballer who plays for Vitória de Guimarães as a central midfielder.

Club career

Alves started his professional career at hometown club Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, making his debut in the first division on 11 November 1998, in a 1–2 home loss against União de Leiria, coming in as a substitute in the 63rd minute; he appeared in a further nine league matches during that season, with the northerners eventually being relegated after ranking 17th.

In 2004–05, after five additional seasons with Chaves in the second level
Liga de Honra
The Liga de Honra , known for sponsorship reasons as the Liga Orangina, is the Portuguese second level football league. It was formerly called Segunda Divisão and Segunda Divisão de Honra . When the LPFP took control of the two nationwide levels, it was renamed Segunda Liga, before renaming it...

, Alves joined Sporting Clube de Braga, making his league debuts on 14 November 2004, in a 0–0 draw at Leiria. After some excellent performances that helped the Minho side finish fourth, moved to national powerhouse Sporting Clube de Portugal.

After having appeared just twice for Sporting in the 2006–07 season, Alves signed a three-year contract with Vitória de Guimarães in July 2007, with Sporting keeping 50% of the player's rights and Braga and Guimarães sharing the other half. In his first year, he only missed one league contest, as Vitória came straight from the second division into a final third place.

International career

On 17 August 2005, Alves made his debut for the Portuguese national side
Portugal national football team
The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home ground is Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and their head coach is Paulo Bento...

, making an assist for an Hélder Postiga
Hélder Postiga
Hélder Manuel Marques Postiga is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Real Zaragoza in Spain, as a striker.After starting professionally at Porto, Postiga went on to have spells in England , France and Greece , before returning to his country with Sporting.A Portuguese international on more than...

 goal, in a 2–0 friendly win over Egypt.

External links

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