José Pedro Malheiro de Sá (; born 17 January 1993) is a Portuguese 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 club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

and the Portugal national team. He started his career with Marítimo B, making his debut with

the first team The First Team were the first players known to have played the sport of basketball, having been taught the game in 1891 by James Naismith, who is recognized as the inventor of the sport. The team comprised 18 players who were studying in Spring ...

in 2013, before signing for

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

in 2016. Sá was loaned for one year to

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

side

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

in 2018, in a deal which was made permanent at the end of the season. With Olympiacos, he won two

titles and the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

, including a

domestic double The Double, in association football, is the achievement of winning a country's top tier division and its primary domestic cup competition in the same season. The lists in this article examine this definition of a double, while derivative sectio ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. In 2021, he signed with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Sá is a former Portuguese under-21 international, reaching the

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

final in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. He was part of the full squad that finished third at the

2017 Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the tenth and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

and won the

2019 UEFA Nations League Finals The 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League, 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international Association football, football competition involving the me ...

on home soil, and was also chosen for the

2022 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 ...

. The following year, he made his senior international debut.

Club career

Marítimo

Born in

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, Sá went from Merelinense to the youth ranks of Benfica in January 2011, and moved six months later to

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

's Marítimo to finish his development at the age of 18. On 23 January 2013 he made his professional debut with the B team, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 home draw against

Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Es ...

in the Segunda Liga championship. In the 2013 off-season, Sá was promoted to the main squad by manager Pedro Martins. He played his first game in 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 18 August in a 2–1 home win over Benfica, and kept his position for the following matchday, a 3–0 loss at

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. During his tenure in

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

, Sá acted as understudy to Frenchman

Romain Salin Romain Jules Salin (born 29 July 1984) is a French former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal's Primeira Liga, making 140 appearances for Naval, Marítimo, Rio Ave and Sporting CP, winnin ...

Porto

On 25 January 2016, both Sá and teammate

Moussa Marega Moussa Marega (born 14 April 1991) is a professional footballer who played as a second striker for Saudi Arabian club Al-Diriyah. Born in France, he plays for the Mali national team. He began his career in France, playing no higher than the C ...

joined Porto on four-and-a-half-year contracts, with the services of the former being acquired for €1.5 million. During his early spell, he was second choice to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

international

Iker Casillas Iker Casillas Fernández (; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "''San Iker''" ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce miracu ...

. Sá made his debut in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

on 17 October 2017, starting in a 3–2 loss for the group stage away to

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 ...

and committing a blunder in the eighth minute which resulted in the opposition's first goal. He became the starter from that point onwards but, following a 5–0 home defeat against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the same competition, lost his place again.

Olympiacos

On 31 August 2018, deemed surplus to requirements by manager

Sérgio Conceição Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição (; born 15 November 1974) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who mostly played as a right winger. Throughout his career, he played for ten teams in five countries. After gain ...

, Sá joined

on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan. He became first choice over

Andreas Gianniotis Andreas Gianniotis (; born 18 December 1992) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Turkish Süper Lig club Kasımpaşa. Club career Gianniotis joined Olympiacos from Football League 2 side Ethnikos Gazoros on 22 Jun ...

shortly after arriving, as the team was coached by his compatriot and former Marítimo boss Martins. On 15 May 2019, Sá agreed to a permanent four-year deal. During the campaign, he kept a total of 18

clean sheets In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

as the team from

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

won the

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, though he missed the Cup final through injury. Sá was again a league winner in

2020–21 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 ...

. However, his team were beaten to the Cup by

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 15 July 2021, Sá joined English club

for a €8 million transfer fee, on a five-year deal; he was signed to replace his experienced compatriot

Rui Patrício Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício (; born 15 February 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for UAE Pro League side Al Ain and the Portugal national team. He is often nicknamed "São Patrício" (''St.'' ''Patric ...

who had joined

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

, and he was handed the number 1 jersey that had not been worn at the Molineux club since

Carl Ikeme Carl Onora Ikeme (born 8 June 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent his entire career at Wolverhampton Wanderers, making 207 appearances across all competitions. He was part of their teams that won the C ...

retired due to his

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

diagnosis in 2018. Sá made his

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

debut on 14 August 2021 in a 1–0 loss away to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. In September, he provided an assist for

Raúl Jiménez Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez (; born 5 May 1991) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Fulham and the Mexico national team. Jiménez began his career in Club América's youth system before debuting in the ...

against

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in their 1–0 win, making him the first Wolves goalkeeper to do so in the Premier League since

Wayne Hennessey Wayne Robert Hennessey (born 24 January 1987) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Wales national team. Hennessey's first professional games saw him set a new Football League record for consecutive clean sheet ...

in October 2009. His string of good all-round performances, including his distribution and shot stopping helped Wolves to a run of three clean sheets, earning the club's Player of the Month, with former

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

player

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit, former coach and player, and co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. As a player, Neville was a right-back and spent his entire career with Manches ...

praising Sá as the signing of the season. On 11 November, despite losing 1–0 to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, Sá received several praises for his performance, making several vital saves, despite Wolves being reduced to 10 men just before half-time, only failing to defend a penalty. On 15 May 2022, Sá won both Wolves's Fans' Player of the 2021–22 Season, and the Players' Player of the 2021–22 Season awards. On 14 October 2022 it was revealed that Sá had been playing for two months with a fractured wrist sustained during a 0–0 home draw with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

in the second match of the

, a game in which he saved a penalty from

Aleksandar Mitrović Aleksandar Mitrović ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Митровић, ; ; born 16 September 1994) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal and the Serbia national team. A youth product a ...

– the first penalty save he had made in a Wolves shirt since joining the club. The following day, he saved another penalty from

Brennan Johnson Brennan Price Johnson (born 23 May 2001) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Tottenham Hotspur and the Wales national team. Born in Nottingham, England, Johnson began his professional career with Nottingham Forest and ...

in a 1–0 home win against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, with ten minutes remaining. Sà made his 100th competitive appearance for Wolves in a 4–2 win away to Chelsea in the Premier League on 4 February 2024.

International career

Youth

Sá represented

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 ...

at the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

. He played all the matches and minutes in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, in an eventual round-of-16 exit. On 6 August 2013, Sá received his first call-up to the under-21 team, for a

friendly game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

with

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He featured in the second half of the 5–2 win, on the 14th. Sá was first choice at the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 20th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international association football, football competition for men's under-21 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tourn ...

, keeping

in all games but one as the national side finished in second place in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

; in the final, he saved from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Abdul Khalili Abdul Rahman "Abbe" Khalili (; born 7 June 1992) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder. Club career Early career and Helsingborgs IF Born and raised in Helsingborg, Khalili started playing football with local cl ...

in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

following a goalless draw at the

Eden Arena Fortuna Arena (formerly known as Sinobo Stadium, Eden Arena and Synot Tip Arena) is a football stadium, in Prague-Vršovice, Czech Republic. The stadium has a capacity of 19,370 people and it is the biggest and the most modern football stadium ...

Senior

On 25 May 2017, Sá was called to the full side for the first time, being named by manager Fernando Santos in a provisional 24-man squad for that year's

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

. Still uncapped, he was part of the squad that won the

on home soil in June but did not make an appearance. Sá was chosen 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 ...

in Qatar. On 16 November 2023, Sá made his debut for Portugal's senior team, starting in a 2–0 away victory over

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

in a

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

match for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Porto B *

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

: 2015–16 Porto *

: 2017–18 Olympiacos *

: 2019–20,

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2019–20 Portugal *

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

: 2018–19, 2024–25 *

third place:

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 ...

Individual *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

Team of the Tournament:

* Super League Greece Goalkeeper of the Season: 2019–20 * Super League Greece Team of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile
at the Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sa, Jose 1993 births Living people Footballers from Braga Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.S. Marítimo players FC Porto B players FC Porto players Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Premier League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players UEFA Nations League–winning players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen