Joseph Mendes (born 30 March 1991) 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 forward for club

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

. Born in France, he represents the Guinea-Bissau national team.

Club career

Born in

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. History Antiquity In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century AD, was named '' Mediolanum Aulercorum'', "the central town ...

, Mendes began his career at

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

. He made 14 total appearances in his only season, and scored his only goal on 17 December 2010, when he came on as an 84th-minute substitute for Yoric Ravet and wrapped up a 3–1 home win over

. In October 2011, he signed for

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

team

Épinal Épinal (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northeastern France and the prefecture of the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department. Geography The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river Moselle, so ...

. In 2012, Mendes returned to the second tier with

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

. He remained there until December 2013, when he signed an 18-month deal with

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

in the

Bulgarian A Football Group The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

. In June 2014, he returned to Ligue 2 with newly promoted club Luzenac AP, who eventually were suspended from competition due to an inadequate stadium and released all of their professionals. In August, he signed a three-year deal with

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

in the same competition. He scored a career-best 9 goals in 2015–16, including two in a 3–1 win at

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

on 6 May 2016. On 8 July 2016, Mendes signed a two-year contract with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. Mendes scored a brace, on his first start in a 3–1 away victory over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on 15 April 2017. He played only seven times in his second season, and in May 2018 Reading decided against renewing his contract. On 2 July 2018, Mendes signed for Ligue 2 club

AC Ajaccio Athletic Club Ajaccien (), commonly referred to as AC Ajaccio, ACA or simply Ajaccio, is a French professional football club based in the city of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. The club was founded in 1910 and plays in the Ligue 2, the sec ...

. He joined up again with Ghislain Gimbert, his former Le Havre strike partner. Goalless across his entire first season, he scored his first goal for the

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

ns on 13 August 2019 in a 4–1 home win over

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

in the first round of the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

. In 2020, Mendes signed for

side

Niort Niort (; Poitevin: ''Niàu''; ; ) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department, western France. It is the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. The population of Niort is 58,707 (2017) and more than 177,000 people live in the urban area. Geography T ...

. On 1 July 2022, Mendes joined

Rodez Rodez (, , ; , ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the communau ...

on a two-year deal. On 28 August 2023, Mendes moved to

on a one-year contract with an optional second year.

International career

Born in France to a Bissau-Guinean father and a Senegalese mother, Mendes was first selected to the Guinea-Bissau national football team for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the 32nd edition of the international men's association footbal ...

match against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

in November 2018. He made his debut on 8 June 2019 in a friendly against

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, as a starter, and later that month was chosen 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 which his team were eliminated from the group stage in Egypt. In September 2019, Mendes scored all of Guinea-Bissau's goals in a 3–1 aggregate win over

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

in the first round of qualification for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Guinea-Bissau's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mendes goal.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Joseph 1991 births Living people Footballers from Évreux Men's association football forwards Bissau-Guinean men's footballers 21st-century Bissau-Guinean sportsmen Guinea-Bissau men's international footballers French men's footballers Bissau-Guinean people of Senegalese descent French sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent French sportspeople of Senegalese descent Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Grenoble Foot 38 players SAS Épinal players Le Mans FC players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players Reading F.C. players AC Ajaccio players Chamois Niortais FC players Rodez AF players Dijon FCO players Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria French expatriate sportspeople in England Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in England English Football League players Black French sportspeople 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century French sportsmen