Eliseu Mendja Nadjack Soares Cassamá (born 6 February 1994) is a Bissau-Guinean 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 plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

club

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Bissau Bissau () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. it had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, its administr ...

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...

, Cassamá started playing organised football in Portugal, his first youth team being

G.D. Ribeirão Grupo Desportivo de Ribeirão, known as Ribeirão, is a Portuguese football club based in Ribeirão, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Braga District The district of Braga ( ) is a district in the northwest of Portugal. The district capital is the c ...

. His senior debut was made in the third division, with G.D. Joane. In summer 2014, Cassamá signed with Spanish club

CF Reus Deportiu Club de Futbol Reus Deportiu, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Reus, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it last competed in the Segunda Division (while its B team competed in the Tercera Division) before ...

, quickly becoming first choice as well as a fan favourite. He contributed 17 games in his second season – play-offs included – helping the side reach

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

for the first time in their 107-year history.

Rio Ave

Cassamá returned to Portugal for the 2016–17 campaign, joining Rio Ave F.C. of the

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 ...

on a five-year contract. He made his debut as a professional on 28 July 2016, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 away draw against

SK Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional association football, football football team, club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are ...

in the last qualifying round of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. He also started in the second leg, being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for two yellow cards late into the first half as the match ended 1–1. Cassamá missed the entire 2019–20, after suffering an injury to his right knee in training.

Grasshoppers

On 29 August 2020, Cassamá agreed to a one-year deal at

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

. He played his first match on 18 September, providing one assist in a 3–2 win over

FC Winterthur FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur, Canton of Zürich. They play in the Swiss Super League, the first tier of Swiss football, and appeared regularly in the Nationalliga A during the 20th century. Their home is the Stad ...

; he missed most of his debut season, however, due to a

patellar tendon rupture Patellar tendon rupture is a tear of the tendon that connects the knee cap (patella) to the tibia. Often there is sudden onset of pain and walking is difficult. In a complete rupture, the ability to extend that knee is decreased. A pop may be felt ...

ailment. Cassamá started the following campaign with the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in the 1. Liga in order to regain match fitness, returning to the main squad ahead of

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. He made his

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

debut on 13 August, in a 2–2 draw at

FC Sion Football Club Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss Association football, football club from the city of Sion, Switzerland, Sion. The club was founded in 1909 and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have wo ...

. Cassamá injured his patella again in October 2022, this time in training. The following 25 May, Grasshoppers announced that his contract would not be extended.

Later career

On 11 August 2024, Cassamá signed for Swiss second-tier club

FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss Association football, football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club set to plays in the Promotion League from 2025–26, the third tier of Swiss football after relegation from Challenge League (Switzerland), Ch ...

International career

Cassamá earned one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the Portugal under-20 team, during a 2–0 friendly win over the Slovakia under-21s in February 2014. He made his debut for his native

on 22 March 2018, starting the 2–0 defeat to

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

in another exhibition game. Manager

Baciro Candé Baciro Candé (born 6 April 1967) is a Bissau-Guinean professional association footballer, football player and association football manager, manager. Career Candé was born in Catió. He played professional football in Portugal's Segunda Liga a ...

named Cassamá in the 23-man squad for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...

in Egypt. He played the opening 2–0 loss against

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

on 25 June, and was replaced by Nanu for the rest of the group-stage elimination.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassama, Eliseu 1994 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Bissau Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players G.D. Joane players Rio Ave F.C. players Segunda División B players CF Reus Deportiu players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players Grasshopper Club Zurich players FC Schaffhausen players Portugal men's youth international footballers Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland