Joelson Augusto Mendes Mango Fernandes (born 28 February 2003), or more simply Joelson, is a 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 winger for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club Hatayspor. Born in

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 ...

, Joelson represents

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 ...

internationally.

Club career

Joelson's play has led to him being compared to the ex-Madrid star

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

. He gathered the attention of several big European clubs such as

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Having started training with the first squad after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he first figured on the bench of a Liga NOS game on 18 June 2020 against C.D. Tondela. On 31 August 2021, Joelson completed a move to

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

on a two-year-loan. He joined Basel's first team during their 2021–22 season under head coach Patrick Rahmen. He played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Cornaredo Cornaredo ( Milanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. Cornaredo borders the following municipalities: Rho Rho (; uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ...

on 12 September as Basel played a 1–1 draw with

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. However, on 2 September 2022, the loan was terminated early by mutual agreement. During his loan period with the club, Joelson played a total of 28 games for Basel scoring a total of 2 goals. 18 of these games were in the

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 ...

, 3 in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, 2 in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

and 5 were friendly games. He scored both goals during the test games. On 11 July 2023, Joelson signed for Turkish club Hatayspor on a free transfer, with Sporting keeping 50% of the player's economic rights.

International career

Through his double nationality, Joelson is eligible to play for both

and

. He became an under-17 Portugal youth international in November 2019, aged only 16, in a Euro qualifier match against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. He made his debut for Portugal U21 in September 2020.

Personal life

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 ...

, the capital of

, Joelson moved to

in 2014. Joelson Fernandes' family has very close ties to both football and Sporting Portugal: his father, Mango, was part of the Sporting youth setups, before becoming a footballing agent, and Joelson's younger brother Saná was also part of the ''Lions'' academy. His older brother, Ricardo, and cousin Roger Fernandes are also professional footballers.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Joelson 2003 births Living people Footballers from Bissau Portuguese men's footballers Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Bissau-Guinean emigrants to Portugal Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent Black Portuguese sportspeople Men's association football wingers Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Primeira Liga players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Liga 3 (Portugal) players Swiss Super League players Swiss Promotion League players Süper Lig players Sporting CP footballers Sporting CP B players FC Basel players Hatayspor footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen