Nicholas Benavides Medeiros ( zh, 尼高拉斯; born 5 November 2001) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 ...

of Chilean and

Bolivian Bolivian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Bolivia ** Bolivian people ** Demographics of Bolivia ** Culture of Bolivia * SS Bolivian, SS ''Bolivian'', later SS ''Alfios'', a British-built standard cargo ship {{disambiguation ...

descent who currently plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

or a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inau ...

club

Tai Po Tai Po is an List of areas of Hong Kong, area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Mark ...

and the

Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team (; recognised as Hong Kong, China by FIFA) represents Hong Kong in international association football, football and is controlled by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China, the governing body for foot ...

Club career

Benavides started playing football at the age of six. As a youth player, Benavides joined the

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

of Lee Man, before getting released due to his "foreign player" status. He started his senior career with First Division club

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

, where he gained promotion to the

in 2022. On 3 March 2024, Benavides scored his first career hat-trick against

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

in a 3–1 win, which is Sham Shui Po's first win of the season. He became a free agent following Sham Shui Po's voluntary relegation back to the First Division. In the summer of 2024, Benavides signed for

. On 1 September 2024, he debuted for the club during a 5–1 home win over

Kowloon City Kowloon City is an area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Kowloon City District. Compared with the council area of Kowloon City District, the Kowloon City area is History As early as in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), Kowloon ...

in the 2024–25 Hong Kong Premier League.

International career

Previously, Benavides was eligible to represent

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

internationally through his parents, but he relinquished his

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

of both countries on 19 August 2023 in order to play for Hong Kong. In October 2024, Benavides was called up to the

for the first time. On 15 October 2024, Benavides made his international debut for

in a 3–0 home friendly win against

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. On 8 December 2024, Benavides scored his first international goal in a 3–0 2025 EAFF E-1 Football Championship qualifier victory against

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Personal life

Benavides was born in Hong Kong to a

mother and a Chilean father. He can speak

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and is the younger brother of Hong Kong footballer Oscar Benavides.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Hong Kong's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Benavides goal.''

Honours

;Tai Po *

: 2024–25

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benavides, Nicholas 2001 births Living people Hong Kong men's footballers Hong Kong men's international footballers Chilean men's footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Bolivian men's footballers Bolivian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football wingers Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Sham Shui Po SA players Tai Po FC players 21st-century Hong Kong sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Hong Kong people of Chilean descent Hong Kong people of Bolivian descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Naturalised footballers of Hong Kong