Carlos Miguel Mondim Saleiro (born 25 February 1986) is a Portuguese former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He was the first baby in Portugal born through

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...

treatment (IVF), and he began his career at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. He played for Sporting B in the 2003–04 season. He won caps at every level of Portuguese international football from under-17 to under-23. He helped his country to win the

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and the

International Challenge Trophy The International Challenge Trophy, originally known as the European Challenge Trophy, was an international association football competition. It is open to national teams featuring semi-professional U-23 footballers who have not yet won senior inte ...

in 2009–11. He was

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

ed out to Olivais e Moscavide from 2005 to 2007, and helped the club to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the

Segunda Divisão : : The Segunda Divisão Portuguesa ( English: ''Portuguese Second Division'') was a football league situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. The division had previously been the second level of the Portuguese pyrami ...

in 2005–06. He spent the 2007–08 season on loan at Fátima, and was loaned out to

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

clubs Vitória Setúbal and Académica in the 2008–09 campaign. He made his first-team debut for Sporting CP in August 2009 and went on to make 67 first-team appearances in two seasons before he moved to

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

side

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

in July 2011. He signed with Académica in June 2012 and then, after a year out of the game, joined

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

in July 2014. He signed with the English club

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

in July 2016 but left after six weeks.

Club career

Sporting CP

Carlos Miguel Mondim Saleiro was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

on 25 February 1986 and was the first baby in Portugal to be born through

treatment (IVF). He spent his youth at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

, and spent the 2003–04 season with Sporting B, scoring three goals in 35 Segunda Divisão – Zona Sul (third tier) matches as they were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

into the

Terceira Divisão : The Terceira Divisão Portuguesa (in English: ''Portuguese Third Division'') was a football league in Portugal, situated at the fourth level of the Portuguese football league system. The Third Division was initially the third level of the Por ...

(fourth tier). He spent the latter half of the 2005–06 campaign on

at Olivais e Moscavide in Segunda Divisão Série D, and though injuries limited him to just two league appearances, he managed to feature in the play-offs as the club secured

into the

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

(second tier). He returned to the club for the 2006–07 campaign, and scored four goals in 26 games as they were relegated in 15th place. He returned to the Liga de Honra for the 2007–08 campaign on loan at newly promoted Fátima, who were

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

ed by

Rui Vitória Rui Carlos Pinho da Vitória (; born 16 April 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and a former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the manager of Super League Greece club Panathinaikos. As a manager, he most notably spent th ...

. He scored 11 goals in 32 league and cup appearances despite Fátima suffering relegation in last place. Despite their league form, Fátima did manage to pull off one of the biggest shock victories of their history by eliminating

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

out of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

on penalties. He was later voted as the second best player of the tournament, behind

Cláudio Pitbull Cláudio Mejolaro (born 8 January 1982), commonly known as Pitbull, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Associação Desportiva Cabofriense. Football career After fine displays at Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, ...

, having scored against Santa Clara, converted in the shoot-out against Porto, and scored in the club's fourth round defeat to his parent club Sporting CP. He signed a new four-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

with Sporting CP in April 2008. He stated that he aimed to win a first-team place and was "tired of loans". He was given

(first tier) experience for the 2008–09 season after securing a loan move to

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

. However, he featured just five times in the league under coach Daúto Faquirá, leading Saleiro to complain to the press about his lack of first-team opportunities. He spent the second half of the campaign on loan at Académica, and finished the season as the club's joint-second-highest scorer (tied with Modou Sougou) with four goals in 13 games to help the club secure a seventh-place finish in the Primeira Liga. Saleiro made his first-team debut for the "Lions" under

Paulo Bento Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento (; born 20 June 1969) is a Portuguese Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder with tackling ability and workrate ...

on 26 August 2009, playing 30 minutes in a 1–1 draw with

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

at the

Stadio Artemio Franchi The Stadio Artemio Franchi is a football stadium in Florence, Italy. It is currently the home of ACF Fiorentina. The old nickname of the stadium was "Comunale". When it was first constructed, it was known as the ''Stadio Giovanni Berta'', after ...

for the last qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Four days later he made his league debut for the club, in a 1–0 win at former side Académica. He made a total of 28 appearances in the 2009–10 season, scoring five goals, mostly under the stewardship of new

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Carlos Carvalhal Carlos Augusto Soares da Costa Faria Carvalhal (; born 4 December 1965) is a Portuguese former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back, currently a Manager (association football), ...

. He made 39 appearances in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season, scoring two goals, as Sporting CP finished in third place, some distance behind ' Big Three' rivals Porto and Benfica. However, much to his frustration, he was frequently used a late substitute by coach Paulo Sérgio and so had limited game time at the

Estádio José Alvalade The Estádio José Alvalade (; ') is a Football (soccer), football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the Estádio José Alvalade (1956), older stadium. The stadium is named afte ...

. He chose to leave Sporting CP a year before the end of his contract to search for first-team football elsewhere, despite reports that new head coach

Domingos Paciência Domingos José Paciência Oliveira, known simply as Domingos as a player (; born 2 January 1969), is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. He achieved success with both Porto and the Portugal national te ...

's rated him highly.

Servette to Oriental

Saleiro signed a two-year contract with

in July 2011, who were managed by Portuguese head coach João Alves and director of football Costinha. He hoped the move would allow him a chance to win himself a place in the

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

squad for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

. However, he struggled with injuries and played only seven

matches in the 2011–12 season. He signed with

Pedro Emanuel Pedro Emanuel dos Santos Martins Silva (born 11 February 1975), known as Pedro Emanuel, is a Portuguese retired Association football, footballer who played mainly as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender, currently Manag ...

's Académica in June 2012. He missed pre-season with an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

injury however, and after returning to fitness in November featured in just seven Primeira Liga and five cup games. He was without a club for the 2013–14 season. He signed with Segunda Liga club

Clube Oriental de Lisboa Clube Oriental de Lisboa is a Portuguese football club based in Lisbon. Founded in 1946, it currently competes in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo Engenheiro Carlos Salema'', with an 8,500 capacity. History In January 19 ...

in July 2014. He finished the 2014–15 season with five goals in 20 appearances and signed a one-year contract extension in June 2015. The 2015–16 season proved to be disastrous however, as Oriental were relegated and serious but unproven allegations were made of match fixing against some of the players – though Saleiro himself was not implicated.

Port Vale

Saleiro signed a two-year contract with English League One club

, managed by Portuguese coach

Bruno Ribeiro Bruno Miguel Fernandes Ribeiro (born 22 October 1975) is a Portuguese former football manager and player. A midfielder with a powerful left-foot strike, he began his playing career with hometown club Vitória Setúbal from 1994 to 1997, befo ...

, in July 2016. He made his debut for the "Valiants" on 9 August, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute for Chris Mbamba in a 2–1 defeat to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. However, his contract was terminated by mutual consent on 16 August 2016, with a club statement revealing that he "found it difficult to adjust to life in the country".

International career

Saleiro represented

at the

2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the second edition of UEFA's UEFA European Under-17 Championship. Portugal hosted the championship, during 7–17 May. The format of the competition changed, and only 8 teams entered the competition ...

. He scored against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the semi-finals, a 2–2 draw at the

Estádio do Fontelo Estádio do Fontelo (; Fontelo Stadium) is a stadium in Viseu, Portugal. It was completed and opened to the public in December 1928. It is mostly used for football (soccer), football matches and hosts the home matches of Académico de Viseu. His ...

; he went on to convert his

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in the shoot-out to help Portugal progress into the final. He also played in the final, where two goals from Márcio Sousa gave Portugal a 2–1 win over

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

to win his country a fifth

title. He also travelled to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

for the

2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship, was the tenth edition of FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Championship. It was held in the cities of Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Turku in Finland from 13 to 30 August 2003. Players born after 1 January 19 ...

, where Spain exacted their revenge by eliminating Portugal at the quarter-final stage. In total he scored seven goals in 18 under-17 games. Then he won two caps at under-18 level in 2004. The following year he scored one goal in eight appearances for the under-19 team. He travelled with the Portugal under-20

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2007 Toulon Tournament The 2007 Toulon Tournament was the 35th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 31 May to 9 June. It was won by France national football team, France, after they beat China national under-23 football team, China 3–1 in the final. Res ...

, and featured in three games. He was called up to the Portugal under-21 team. He appeared in

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

games for the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2007 UEFA Europ ...

, scoring in a 2–0 win over

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

at the

Estádio D. Afonso Henriques The Estádio D. Afonso Henriques (') is a association football, football stadium in the city of Guimarães, Portugal. The stadium is home of Guimarães's most successful team, Vitória Guimarães, Vitória de Guimarães, presently competing in th ...

on 26 March 2008. He was called up to the Portugal under-23 squad for the 2009–11 International Challenge Trophy, and played in the final where Portugal defeated

1–0 at

Sixfields Stadium Sixfields Stadium is an 8,203-capacity all-seater sports stadium in the Sixfields area on the west side of Northampton, England. It has been the home ground of Northampton Town F.C., Northampton Town Football Club following their move from the ...

Club statistics

Honours

Olivais e Moscavide *

: 2005–06 Portugal U17 *

Portugal U23 *

: 2009–11

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saleiro, Carlos 1986 births Living people People conceived by in vitro fertilization Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese men's footballers Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Sporting CP B players Sporting CP footballers C.D. Olivais e Moscavide players C.D. Fátima players Vitória F.C. players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Clube Oriental de Lisboa players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Servette FC players Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Port Vale F.C. players Segunda Divisão players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Swiss Super League players 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen