Daniela Santos strengthens the women’s team | OneFootball

With eight trophies to her name, Daniela Santos is heading to the Invicta, where she is preparing to join FC Porto’s women’s squad in 2026/27 and wear the blue and white shirt with the number 30.

Born on Pico Island, the first Portuguese international from the Azores took her first steps in football with Prainha FC, before going on to represent Benfica, Estoril Praia and Valadares Gaia prior to moving north.

After arriving in Lisbon in the summer of 2019, she joined Benfica’s junior squad while still at youth level and, the following season, made her senior debut for the B team at just 17 years of age. Her first appearance for the main team came in 2021/22, the season in which she shared the dressing room with Maria Negrão.

Five seasons later, and with seven trophies won – two National Championships (2021/22 and 2022/23), one Portuguese Cup (2023/24), one Super Cup (2023), one League Cup (2023/24), one Women’s Second Division title (2023/24) and another in the National Under-19 Championship (2021/22) – she would eventually be loaned out to Estoril Praia and Valadares Gaia.

In 2024/25, she was one of the standout players in Estoril’s first-ever Liga BPI campaign, just like Lara Perruca, and once again earned the trust of the Gaia club the following season.

At Valadares, she stood out as the most-used centre-back in the squad that finished fourth in the First Division, won the AF Porto Cup and reached the League Cup final. Individually, she was the second player in the league with the most interceptions (33) and the one with the best long-pass accuracy.

Her strong performances for the club caught the attention of head coach Francisco Neto, who handed her debut in a qualifying match for the 2027 European Championship.

Now 22, she is moving to the Invicta and joins Ema Gonçalves, Eliza Turner, Lily Bryant, Lara Perruca, Matilde Vaz, Mariana Azevedo, Bárbara Marques, Mariana Queirós, Morgan Stone and Maria Inês Nogueira in the squad coached by Daniel Chaves, which will compete in the women’s First Division in 2026/27.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.