Jonas Asvedo Mendes (born 20 November 1989) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for Greek Super League 2 club

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

the

Guinea-Bissau national football team The Guinea-Bissau national football team ( Portuguese: Seleção nacional de futebol da Guiné-Bissau) represents Guinea-Bissau in men's international association football and it is controlled by the Football Federation of Guinea-Bissau, The ...

. Raised in Portugal, he played three

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 ...

games for

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its Association football, football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth natio ...

, and 30 in the second tier for

Atlético CP Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

and Académico Viseu, while spending most of his career in the third division. A full international with over 51

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

since 2010, he represented the country at the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

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 ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Club 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 ...

, and raised in Quinta da Princesa,

Seixal Seixal () is a Portugal, Portuguese city and municipality, located in the district of Setúbal District, Setúbal, in the metropolitan area of Lisbon region, Lisbon. Its population includes 184,269 inhabitants (2011), in an area of that includes ...

, Mendes began his career in Portugal's lower leagues with

Amora F.C. Amora Futebol Clube, commonly known as simply as Amora, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Amora, Setúbal. The club was founded on the 1 May 1921 and its founders were Mário de Carvalho, Guilherme Pestana, João Baptista, Julião G ...

and joined

club

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Ave ...

in 2011. Due to

Rui Rêgo Rui Manuel Castanheira do Rêgo (born 5 July 1980 in Mujães, Viana do Castelo) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes ...

's injury, he played three games in January 2012, starting with a 2–1 loss at

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

. Mendes moved in 2013 to

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese sports club based in the parish of Alcântara, in the west side of Lisbon. The club was established on 18 September 1942 through the merger of two local clubs from Alcântara: Carcavelinhos Football ...

of the Segunda Liga, where he was rarely used. In the ensuing years, he played in the third-tier Campeonato de Portugal for

SC Vianense Sport Clube Vianense, commonly known as Vianense, is a Portuguese football club based in Viana do Castelo in the district of Viana do Castelo. SC Vianense currently plays in the Liga 3. The club was founded in 1898 and is one of the oldest cl ...

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese professional association football, football club that plays in Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Vizela and play in the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Viz ...

and

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Its most well-known department is its football department but the multi-sport ...

. He won promotion with Vizela in 2016, though not as first choice. In June 2017, Mendes returned to the second division with Académico de Viseu FC. He played the majority of games in his second season, after the exit of Brazilian veteran

Peterson Peçanha Peterson dos Santos Peçanha (born 11 January 1980) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Playing career Born in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Peçanha began his career with Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, but ...

. Mendes left Portugal for the first time in his career in July 2019, to join Black Leopards F.C. of the

South African Premier Division The South African Premiership, also known as the Betway Premiership for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the PSL after its governing body, is a professional soccer league in South Africa and the highest level of the South Afric ...

. He left two years later at the end of his contract, having turned down a deal to carry on after relegation for the sake of his international prospects.

International career

Mendes made his international debut for

on 16 November 2010 in a 2–1 friendly loss to

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

at the

Estádio do Restelo The Estádio do Restelo is a multi-purpose stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. The stadium has a capacity of 19,856 people and was built in 1956, in an old stone quarry. It is situated behind the Jerónimos Monastery in the Lisbon parish of Belém (Lis ...

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 ...

. He was called up for the

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

in Gabon and the 2019 edition in Egypt, and played all three games of both group-stage eliminations, as well as being picked for the 2021 tournament.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Jonas 1989 births Living people Footballers from Bissau Footballers from Seixal Men's association football goalkeepers Bissau-Guinean men's footballers 21st-century Bissau-Guinean sportsmen Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Amora F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players Atlético Clube de Portugal players SC Vianense players S.C. Salgueiros players Académico de Viseu F.C. players Black Leopards F.C. players A.P.S. Zakynthos players Kalamata F.C. players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players South African Premier Division players Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players