Carlos Leonel Gois Fernandes (born 28 July 1987 in

Ribeira Brava, Madeira Ribeira Brava (; ) is a municipality on the island of Madeira Island, Madeira, in the Portugal, Portuguese Autonomous Region of Madeira. It is located along the southern coast (approximately centre), and is west of Câmara de Lobos and the region ...

, Portugal), commonly known as Carlos Leonel, is a former football player. He was the top scorer in the 2016 and 2017

Liga de Elite Liga de Elite (; ), previously known as Campeonato da 1ª Divisão do Futebol, is the top division of the Associação de Futebol de Macau, Macau Football Association, created in 1973. The league features local players and professional foreign pl ...

Club career

Early career

Leonel has been a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player since he was six-years old. He was in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil, doing an exchange program when Carlos Vilar invited him to visit him in Macau and play for three months on Casa de Portugal in the

2ª Divisão de Macau Campeonato da 2ª Divisão do Futebol, is the second division of the Associação de Futebol de Macau, Macau Football Association, created in 2005. As with the Hong Kong First Division League, it is separate from the mainland Chinese football le ...

Benfica de Macau

During the

2017 AFC Cup qualifying round The 2017 AFC Cup qualifying round was played from 19 to 25 August 2016. A total of nine teams competed in the qualifying round to decide three places in the qualifying play-offs of the 2017 AFC Cup. Teams The following nine teams from nine assoc ...

held at

Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

on 21 August 2016, Benfica de Macau played Rovers FC from

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, Leonel scored twice and Benfica de Macau won the match 4–2. On 4 March 2017, Leonel scored a hat-trick as Benfica de Macau beat C.D. Monte Carlo 6–0. On 7 March 2018, Benfica de Macau took part in the 2018 AFC Cup group stage. After losing two goals in the first half to Hang Yuen, Leonel scored in the 61st and 63rd minutes to help the club overturn the score and won 3–2. It was Benfica de Macau's first ever win in the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

group stage. Leonel was awarded player of the match. On 16 May, Benfica de Macau beat

Hwaebul Sports Club Hwaebul Sports Club is a professional football club from Pochon, North Korea, founded in 2013. It is the sports club of the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League and is based at the 5,000 capacity Hwaebul Stadium. The club plays in the DPR ...

with Leonel scoring a hat-trick on the final day of the group stage. Benfica de Macau finished the second in the group. On 14 January 2022, Benfica de Macau announced the retirement of Leonel as well as his appointment as the main coach. In September 2024, Leonel was appointed as the head coach of

China League Two The Chinese Football League 2 (), or China League Two, is the third-tier association football league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association and operated by the Chinese Professional ...

club Jiangxi Dark Horse Junior, the club changed its name to Wenzhou FC in next year.

International career

On 7 October 2016, Leonel was selected into the

Macau national football team The Macau national football team (; ) represents the Special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, Chinese special administrative region of Macau in international association football. The team is supervised by the Macau Foo ...

for the first time for the

Hong Kong–Macau Interport Hong Kong Macau Interport is an annual association football match between Hong Kong and Macau national teams. The matches are hosted by the two alternatively each year. Results Winners Table The rivalry Men's matches Only full international ma ...

. On 5 September 2017, Leonel made his debut for Macau in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification Third Round against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, but Macau lost 0–2. On 2 October 2017, Macau played a friendly against

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

. At 72 minutes, Leonel scored with a header, then 2 minutes later he scored again and helped Macau overturn the score. In the end Macau won the match 3–1. On 14 November 2017, Macau played

, at 87 minutes, Leonel scored, but Macau lost 3–4.

International goals

:''Macau's goals are listed first''

Honours

Individual *2016 Liga de Elite top scorer *2017 Liga de Elite top scorer *2021 Liga de Elite top scorer

References

External links

Carlos Leonel facebook pageCarlos Leonel Gois Fernandes
Eurosport player profile
Carlos Leonel
Futbal 365 player profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonel, Carlos 1987 births Living people People from Ribeira Brava, Madeira Naturalized citizens of Macau Naturalised association football players Macau men's footballers Macau men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga de Elite players S.L. Benfica de Macau players Madeiran footballers Portuguese emigrants to Macau Portuguese men's footballers 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen