Tcherno Jamanca: “FC Porto is the club closest to my heart” | OneFootball

Tcherno Jamanca has renewed with FC Porto after a season in which he finished as the top scorer in the National Under-17 Championship, establishing himself as one of the standout figures in Porto’s campaign. At 17, the striker sees the contract as a reward for the path he has taken, but also as a commitment to even greater demands and the ambition of reaching the first team. With the past kept as motivation, the youngster promises to keep chasing the dream and said: “I’m very happy to have renewed my contract.”

At the moment of extending his link with the club, Tcherno Jamanca stands between the memory of a remarkable under-17 campaign and the desire to earn his place in a new context. The centre-forward speaks of work, sacrifice and belonging, without hiding that making his debut at the Estádio do Dragão is the image that stays with him every day.

For the striker, the renewal is a shared achievement. The player linked the new deal to the support he has found around him since the beginning of his journey.

“I’m very happy to have renewed my contract. It was the result of my work, but I wouldn’t have managed it without the support of my family, the staff, the coaches and God.”

The contract therefore appears less as an end point than as confirmation of a path built day by day. Jamanca does not separate individual merit from the structure that has supported him.

The speed of his rise also surprised him, although he never stopped nurturing the goal. Between ambition and surprise, he made it clear that persistence was the basis of everything.

“I never imagined it. I always had this goal, but I didn’t think I would achieve it so quickly,” he explained. “It was the result of hard work. I never lost hope, I worked every day to get here.”

His words do not try to turn his progress into something inevitable. On the contrary, they underline the idea that every step was sustained by routine and belief.

With the renewal also comes a responsibility that the youngster embraces without hesitation. His gratitude to FC Porto goes hand in hand with the awareness that the trust placed in him demands an answer on the pitch.

“I feel a lot of responsibility. I want to thank the Club for trusting me and for giving me this vote of confidence.”

It is a simple formula, but one loaded with commitment: the opportunity is recognised as a show of faith that now has to be honoured. And Jamanca is already pointing the way to do so.

After standing out at under-17 level, the striker refuses to settle for what he has already achieved. Last season, he insists, cannot weigh more than the work still left to do.

“Last season already belongs to the past. This season I will keep working every day, because I want to grow and score more goals,” he said. “I feel more responsibility, I always wanted more and I think I achieved it. Working every day has always been my focus and I never stopped believing.”

The past serves him as a reference, not a shelter. Growing, scoring and maintaining discipline appear as the coordinates of a stage he wants to turn into another step forward.

His connection to FC Porto has deepened over the years. Jamanca speaks about the club with recognition and affection, recalling the moment when he found an opportunity.

“With each passing year I feel more love for this club. FC Porto gave me everything, I had nothing. That’s why this is now the club of my heart.”

Gratitude gives depth to the renewal and explains the way the striker sees the badge. It is not just a development environment: it is the place where he began to project his own career.

Looking back on the 2025/26 season, Jamanca highlighted a team shaped by effort and attention to the coaches’ instructions. The difficulty of the journey is presented as an essential part of the achievement.

“It was a very difficult season. We worked every day with great effort and dedication,” he analysed. “We stayed very focused and listened to the coaches every day. I think that was very important.”

The top scorer in the National Under-17 Championship does not reduce the campaign to his goals. His reading is collective, built on concentration and shared work.

But there are memories that remain above all the others. The goals in the title-deciding match and the moment he realised the scale of the celebration are etched into the young striker’s account.

“I scored 35 goals, but the two goals in the title game were the most special. I felt goosebumps and a lot of emotion. I will never forget the last game,” he recalled. “When the whistle blew, I didn’t even realise we had just become champions, because I thought we still had to win, but then I saw everyone running and I joined the celebration with great emotion. Becoming champions with FC Porto increased my confidence.”

Between the surprise of the final whistle and the explosion of celebration, Jamanca found an emotional hallmark for the season. The title also gave him confidence that he intends to carry into the next challenge.

His path to FC Porto began at a tournament, when he was still representing Real SC. The club’s approach and the first training sessions opened a door that the striker never let go of.

“FC Porto saw me in a tournament where I scored a lot of goals for Real SC. At the time they spoke to my mother, I came here to train and I ended up staying,” he said. “At first I was nervous, but I was very proud of myself. FC Porto exceeded my expectations.”

His arrival brought nerves, but also pride. The initial impact gave way to the perception that the club matched, and even surpassed, what he had imagined.

Adapting, however, was not automatic. Jamanca found a group with a different rhythm and a different physical demand, in a test that he acknowledges he overcame.

“When I arrived, the team already had a different rhythm and intensity. My teammates were much faster and stronger, but I managed to adapt.”

The sentence sums up an important phase in his growth: understanding the difference in intensity and finding a way to respond to it. That ability to adapt goes hand in hand with the profile he describes today.

Among the references he found at the club, Samu holds a special place. The fact they arrived in the same season made the admiration feel closer.

“I arrived in the same season as Samu and he inspired me a lot. I still look at him as an inspiration.”

He speaks openly about that inspiration, which reveals how closely he watches those who are further ahead. For Jamanca, learning also means looking at the examples around him.

Whenever he gets the chance to train or play at a higher level, the response he wants to give is always the same: maximum intensity. The message he receives from the coaches is just as direct.

“Whenever I move up a level to train or play, I always give my maximum. The coaches always ask the same thing: run and give your life for the team.”

His readiness for every call-up appears as a rule of conduct. More than the occasion itself, what matters to him is showing that he is ready to serve the team.

The young striker also identifies clear changes since arriving in Porto, both in his body and his image. His physical development came together with a decision that ended up becoming distinctive.

“I improved my physical capacity and became stronger, faster and able to adapt to all the exercises,” he described. “Besides that, I dyed my hair. With two games left, I decided to take the risk because I believed we were going to be National Champions, and now this is my trademark look.”

That trademark image was born in a moment of confidence, but the core of the transformation lies in his physical development. That is the foundation the player links to his ability to respond to different exercises and levels.

Despite the numbers he produced at under-17 level, Jamanca does not lose sight of a collective priority. Goals are the territory he lives in, but the team’s victory remains above any individual statistic.

“I live off goals, but the most important thing for me is seeing the team win. Victory is always the most important thing.”

The statement places his goalscoring instinct within a bigger ambition. Scoring is decisive for a centre-forward, but it only finds its full meaning when it helps the team win.

The coaches recognise his talent, but they also point to a concrete margin for growth. Jamanca accepts that demand as part of the process.

“They say I have talent, but that I need to be calmer and improve my decision-making.”

There is no complacency in the diagnosis. Calmness and decision-making emerge as areas for improvement for a player who knows that talent alone does not complete the journey.

The new context has already begun with the B team and is fuelling the expectation of a professional debut. Contact with senior levels is lived as an opportunity to observe, gain rhythm and learn.

“Last season was very good. This year I started with the B team and I hope to make my professional debut,” he said. “It’s a dream to train with the senior teams, because they allow me to see things in a different way, gain rhythm and understand what football is really like. I always try to learn from the more experienced players.”

The jump in context is not treated as an immediate promise, but as a school. Jamanca wants to absorb the experience of those who already know the demands of senior football.

It is in the first team, and at the Estádio do Dragão, that the striker places his big objective. But ambition is always accompanied by the formula he repeats throughout his speech: work and listen.

“I have the talent to establish myself, but that will only happen if I keep working. My main objective is to make my debut for the first team at the Estádio do Dragão. I think about it every day,” he said. “I have to keep working very hard, I have to make many sacrifices, push myself a lot and listen to the older players.”

The dream is clear and he does not hide it, but there is no shortcut in the way he describes it. The debut is the goal; daily effort, sacrifices and listening are the price he accepts to pay.

Off the pitch, Tcherno presents himself with a short and direct definition. It is a personal portrait without artifice, aligned with the humble tone that runs through his words.

“I’m fun, humble, smiling, shy and a good person. This is Tcherno.”

His family plays a decisive role in that balance. The striker speaks of daily support and of his relationship with his mother as one of the foundations sustaining him at this stage.

“My family understands what I am living through and gives me support. They tell me to keep fighting and that I can count on them for whatever I need,” he acknowledged. “I speak to my mother every day, she is my best friend and is always supporting me. That is very important.”

Family support appears as an anchor in a path of growing demands. In that daily closeness he finds the encouragement to keep fighting.

His relationship with the fans closes the circle of belonging that Jamanca feels at FC Porto. The striker promises to honour that bond with total commitment.

“These fans are incredible. They are more than a family. I want them to know that I will always give everything for this Club.”

The promise is consistent with everything he has been saying: effort, gratitude and commitment to the team. And when he looks to the future, he imagines a sound that he hopes one day to make real.

“I hope this day marks the beginning of a great journey and I would like one day to hear my name at the Estádio do Dragão.”

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