FC Porto keep women’s captain for league debut | OneFootball

Some stories begin within the four lines, but Ema Gonçalves’s started in the North Stand of the Estádio do Dragão. An FC Porto supporter since birth – in January 2002 – and a season ticket holder since September 2010, the number 2 shirt extends her bond with the club she loves and will continue to lead the women’s team.

Fate had it that her debut took place on that very pitch, exactly 14 years after she first took her reserved seat in sector 27. Before that, however, she had already played for Rio Ave, Bonitos de Amorim, SC Braga, Varzim and Valadares Gaia.

Well acquainted with the highest level of women’s football in Portugal, Ema Gonçalves dropped down from the top flight to the Third Division with the ambition of leading FC Porto to the Liga BPI within two years. In her debut season, she recorded five goals and 15 assists in 31 matches, playing a decisive role in winning the national title and the resulting promotion.

This season, the right-back was one of the standout figures in the run to Jamor: she started and played every minute in all the matches against First Division teams, helped keep a clean sheet against Racing Power (7th place), scored the decisive penalty in the shootout against CS Marítimo (9th), and shut down the path to goal in the home game against Vitória SC (5th), the match that secured a place in the Portuguese Cup final.

In the league, the wearer of the blue-and-white captain’s armband scored three goals in 18 matches and started every game until suffering a fractured fibula in April. Away from the pitch, Ema Gonçalves watched from the stands as the Second Division national title was won, with the emotion of someone fulfilling a childhood dream.

Before cheering on FC Porto in the finals of the Portuguese Cup and the AF Porto Cup, and lifting the long-awaited National Champion trophy, member number 50,703 renews her contract and gets ready to compete in the top flight next season.

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