Gabriel Brás

Gabriel Brás
Personal information
Full name Gabriel Costa Brás
Date of birth (2004-03-25) 25 March 2004
Place of birth Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position Centre back
Team information
Current team
 NEC Nijmegen (on loan from Porto B)
Number 73
Youth career
2012–2017 Varzim
2017–2024 Porto
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2023– Porto B 78 (3)
2026– → NEC Nijmegen (loan) 0 (0)
International career‡
2019 Portugal U15 4 (1)
2019–2020 Portugal U16 12 (1)
2021–2022 Portugal U18 12 (1)
2022–2023 Portugal U19 13 (3)
2023–2024 Portugal U20 3 (0)
2024– Portugal U21 6 (2)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Portugal
UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Runner-up2023 Malta
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 19 June 2026
‡ National team caps and goals as of 15:43, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

Gabriel Costa Brás (born 25 March 2004) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a centre back for Dutch club NEC Nijmegen, on loan from Porto B, and the Portugal national under-21 team.

He joined the youth ranks of Porto in 2017 from local club Varzim, and made his debut for Porto B in Liga Portugal 2 in 2023, later becoming captain. He represented Portugal from under-15 to under-21 international level, and was chosen in the Team of the Tournament at the 2023 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, in which his team were runners-up.

Club career

Born in Póvoa de Varzim in the Porto metropolitan area, Brás was raised in neighbouring Vila do Conde.[1] He started playing football at local club Varzim before joining the youth ranks of Porto in 2017, and signing his first professional contract aged 16 in June 2020.[1] In January 2023, while an under-19 player, his contract was extended by an undisclosed length.[2]

Brás was added to the Porto B team in Liga Portugal 2 for 2023–24. He made his debut on 13 August in a goalless home draw with Tondela,[3] and on 2 September, he headed his first goal to equalise in a 2–1 loss away to Mafra, as his team lost for the first time in the fourth fixture.[4] In December, first-team manager Sérgio Conceição called up Brás and fellow reserve defender Romain Correia for a Taça da Liga match against Leixões, as David Carmo had been sent in the opposite direction.[5]

On 2 December 2024, captain Brás headed the last-minute winner against Oliveirense.[6] Thirteen days later, he suffered an injury in a goalless home draw with Feirense on 15 December 2024, and was ruled out for over a month.[7] In June 2025, first-team manager Martín Anselmi called him up for the 28-man squad for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.[8]

In 2025–26, Brás played 30 games for Porto B. On 13 August 2026 he was loaned to Dutch club NEC Nijmegen for a €100,000 fee and the option to buy 50% of his economic rights for €1.25 million.[9]

International career

Brás played with the Portugal under-15 team at a tournament in Austria in 2019, scoring in a 2–1 loss to the hosts on 29 April.[10] On 6 February 2020, he equalised in a 3–1 home win over Colombia in Vila Real de Santo António for the under-16 team.[11] He was the captain of the under-18 team at the football at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Algeria.[12]

At the 2023 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Malta, Brás scored the opening goal of the tournament within four minutes of a 2–0 group win over Poland.[13] Three days later he added another in a 5–1 win over Italy at the National Stadium, Ta' Qali.[14] The two teams met again in the final which Italy won by a single goal; Brás was named in the Team of the Tournament.[15]

On 11 October 2024, on his second cap for the under-21 team, Brás scored a header in a 3–1 win away to the Faroe Islands, in 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification.[16] A year and three days later in his next game, he contributed a goal to a record 11–0 win away to Gibraltar in the next qualification cycle.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Jovem futebolista poveiro assina contrato profissional com o FC Porto" [Young footballer from Póvoa de Varzim signs professional contract with FC Porto]. Mais Semanário (in Portuguese). 3 June 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  2. ↑ "OFICIAL: FC Porto renova contrato com Gabriel Brás" [OFFICIAL: FC Porto renew contract with Gabriel Brás] (in Portuguese). CNN Portugal. 20 January 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  3. ↑ "FC Porto B: O empate soube a pouco" [FC Porto B: The draw was unsatisfactory] (in Portuguese). Porto Canal. 13 August 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  4. ↑ "Mafra acaba com a invencibilidade do FC Porto B na nova temporada" [Mafra end FC Porto B's invincibility in the new season] (in Portuguese). Notícias ao Minuto. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  5. ↑ "Sérgio Conceição chama dois centrais da equipa B após despromoção de David Carmo" [Sérgio Conceição calls up two B-team centre-backs after David Carmo's demotion]. Record (in Portuguese). 21 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  6. ↑ "A crónica do FC Porto B-Oliveirense, 2-1: centrais aliviam desconsolo do dragão" [FC Porto 2-1 Oliveirense report: centre-backs alleviate Dragon's discomfort]. Record (in Portuguese). 1 December 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  7. ↑ Pedrosa Marques, Eduardo (31 January 2025). "FC Porto B: João Brandão com dois problemas para resolver" [FC Porto B: João Brandão with two problems to resolve]. A Bola (in Portuguese). Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  8. ↑ Pinto, Paulo (10 June 2025). "FC Porto: várias novidades nos convocados para o Mundial de Clubes" [FC Porto: various new faces in the call-ups for the Club World Cup]. A Bola (in Portuguese). Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  9. ↑ "Oficial: FC Porto empresta Gabriel Brás ao NEC Nijmegen" [Official: FC Porto loan Gabriel Brás to NEC Nijmegen]. Record (in Portuguese). 13 August 2026. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Áustria - Portugal" (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  11. ↑ "Sub-16: Portugal vence Colômbia no Torneio de Desenvolvimento da UEFA" [Under-16: Portugal defeat Colombia in UEFA Development Tournament]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 6 February 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  12. ↑ "Jogos do Mediterrâneo: Portugal soma primeira vitória" [Mediterranean Games: Portugal record first victory]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 28 June 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  13. ↑ Camilleri, Valhmor (3 July 2023). "Portugal power past Poland to kick off Euro campaign in style". Times of Malta. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  14. ↑ Lia, Gianluca (6 July 2023). "Comeback win for Portugal over ten-man Italy in U-19's Euros". Times of Malta. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  15. ↑ "Team of the Tournament". UEFA. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  16. ↑ Pedrosa Marques, Eduardo (11 October 2024). "Gabriel Brás: «Tento sempre ajudar ao máximo a equipa a atingir os seus objetivos»" [Gabriel Brás: "I always try to help the team as much as I can to reach our objectives"]. A Bola (in Portuguese). Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  17. ↑ "Sub-21 de Portugal com goleada histórica em Gibraltar" [Portugal under-21 with historic rout in Gibraltar]. Diário do Minho (in Portuguese). 14 October 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.