Cláudia Teresa Pires Neto (born 18 April 1988) is a Portuguese

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 plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Portuguese

Campeonato Nacional Feminino The Campeonato Nacional Feminino (English: Women's National Championship), also known as Liga BPI for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier women's association football league in Portugal and part of the various women's football competitions in ...

club

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,

. She has previously played for Prainsa Zaragoza and

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

in the Spanish Primera División,

Linköping FC Linköping Football Club () is an association football club from Linköping, Sweden. The club was established in 2003 when Kenty DFF women's football club decided to merge with the premier division ice hockey club Linköping HC under the new name ...

in the Swedish

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

in the German

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German language, German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. I ...

, and

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 ...

in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

Club career

Spain

Neto started playing at the age of twelve

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

with União de Lagos. With them she won all the trophies available in the

Algarve Football Association The Associação de Futebol do Algarve () is one of the 22 Portuguese District Football Associations, district football associations that are affiliated to the Portuguese Football Federation. The AF Algarve administers lower tier football (socce ...

. In 2008, she turned to association football and signed for Prainsa Zaragoza in Spain's

Superliga Superliga (''super league'') may refer to: Sports Superliga can refer to different sports leagues: Association football *Albanian Superliga, the Albanian top-flight men's division * Argentine Superliga, the Argentine top-flight men's division *D ...

. Five years later, in 2013, she moved to

, where she played just one season.

Linköping FC

Neto moved to Sweden and joined

in June 2014, signing a one-and-a-half year contract. She was one of the most influential players during the

2014 Damallsvenskan The 2014 Damallsvenskan, part of the 2014 Swedish football season, was the 27th season of Damallsvenskan since its establishment in 1988. The season started on 13 April 2014 and ended on 19 October 2014. LdB Malmö, which was renamed to FC Roseng ...

season, contributing with her precise passing and humble character. This led to her signing a two-year contract extension in September 2015. In February 2017, Neto was nominated for the

FIFPRO World 11 The FIFPRO World 11 are the best association football men's and women's teams of the year. FIFPRO invites all professional men's and women's footballers to compose the teams. Initially known as the FIFPRO World 11, the award began in 2005 and c ...

team. During her time with Linköpings, she helped the club twice win the

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

and win the league championship back-to-back in the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

seasons.

Wolfsburg VfL

In November 2017, together with Linköpings team-mate Kristine Minde, Neto joined German champions

, signing a contract until June 2019. After exceeding the high expectations the club had of her, they signed her to a one-year contract extension in October 2018, keeping her at the club until June 2020. In all three of her seasons at the club they won both the

title and the

DFB-Pokal Frauen The DFB-Pokal Frauen is the main national Women's association football, women's football cup competition in Germany, held annually by the German Football Association in knockout format. It was created in 1980, and since 1991 includes Eastern teams ...

each season.

Fiorentina

In August 2020, Neto signed with Italian club

until 2022.

Sporting CP

In June 2022, Neto returned to Portugal, after 14 seasons overseas, and signed with

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,

. In June 2024, Neto re-signed with Sporting CP for another season after scoring 17 goals in 54 matches since 2022. This kept her the oldest player of the squad.

International career

Neto was called-up for Portuguese national youth teams from 2004. In 2006, she made her debut for the Portuguese senior national team, which she later captained, helping guide the team to the 2017 UEFA Women's European Championships. She retired from international football in September 2021, having scored 19 goals in 136

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since her debut in March 2006.

Style of play

Neto stated that starting off her career playing

gave her technique and helped her think and execute faster due to playing in reduced spaces.

Personal life

Neto was born as a

premature baby Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is between ...

in the Portuguese city

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro (district), Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2022 was 63,079 in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão. In ...

Honours

: Winner (2)

: Winner (2) 2013–14, 2014–15

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neto, Claudia 1988 births Living people Portuguese women's footballers Portugal women's international footballers Portuguese expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Damallsvenskan players Linköpings FC players Liga F players RCD Espanyol (women) players VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Zaragoza CFF players Footballers from Portimão Women's association football midfielders FIFA Women's Century Club ACF Fiorentina (women) players Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Serie A (women's football) players Frauen-Bundesliga players Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players Sporting CP (women's football) players 21st-century Portuguese sportswomen