João Carlos Araújo Fonseca Silva (born 30 August 1989), known as Talocha, 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 for

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 ...

club

Tondela Tondela () is a concelho, municipality in the Centro, Portugal, central Portugal, Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km2. History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carv ...

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 ...

Club career

Born in Antas,

Vila Nova de Famalicão Vila Nova de Famalicão (), also known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese town in the Braga District and the sub-region of Ave (intermunicipal community), Vale do Ave. The population of ''Vila Nova'' was created in 1205 with the charter given by the K ...

, Talocha developed at

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tie ...

, and played his first senior matches for his hometown club in the lower divisions, including their 2008–09 nadir in the

Braga Football Association The Braga Football Association (''Associação de Futebol de Braga'', abrv. ''AF Braga'') is the district governing body for the all football competitions in the Portuguese district of Braga since 1992. It is also the regulator of the clubs regis ...

's first district league. He transferred across the third tier to

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 ...

in 2013. On 17 December of the following year, he scored twice against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

in the last 16 of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

, albeit in a 3–2 home loss. On 29 May 2016, Talocha jumped two divisions to the

, signing for

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese football, at the Estádio do B ...

on a two-year deal. He made his professional debut in the

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 ...

-opening 2–0 home win over

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a professional Association football, football club based in the Porto metropolitan area. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,600-seat capac ...

, on 14 August. Having barely missed a game, he got his first goal on 14 January 2018 to open a win by the same score against

Portimonense S.C. Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese footbal ...

also at the

Estádio do Bessa The Estádio do Bessa Sec. XXI (') is a soccer, football stadium located in the Boavista area of Porto, Portugal, used by Boavista F.C., Boavista Futebol Clube. Like other stadiums used in Euro 2004, the Bessa is a new ground but built on top of ...

, after a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

David Simão David Martins Simão (born 15 May 1990) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Primeira Liga club Arouca. Club career Born in Versailles, Yvelines, France, Simão played most of his youth career at S.L. Benfic ...

. When Talocha was about to become a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in May 2018, Boavista gave him a new deal for the next two years. A year later, he completed a century of appearances with the side from

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 ...

in a match with

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

, amidst interest from other clubs. On 5 August 2019, Talocha reached an agreement to end his contract with a year remaining and headed abroad for the first time, to

Atromitos F.C. Atromitos Football Club (, ''PAE APS Atromitos Athinon''), also simply known as Atromitos ), is a Greek professional football club based in Peristeri, a suburban city in the Athens agglomeration, that competes in the Super League. Founded in ...

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 ...

; his former employers remained 20% of his economic rights. He switched to the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga, also known as TonyBet Virslīga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Latvia and the highest level of the Latvian football league system. Organised by the Latvian Footbal ...

the following

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, joining champions

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian Association football, football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 Latvian Higher League, 2016, the club has been playing in the Latv ...

. Talocha returned to the Portuguese top flight on 7 August 2020, signing a two-year deal with Gil Vicente F.C. He then moved to the

Liga Portugal 2 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 Pr ...

with

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

, achieving promotion in the 2022–23 campaign. On 21 August 2024, Talocha joined second-tier C.D. Tondela on a two-year contract.

Honours

Tondela *

: 2024–25

References

External links

*
Portuguese League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Talocha 1989 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Vila Nova de Famalicão Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Famalicão players F.C. Vizela players Boavista F.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players S.C. Farense players C.D. Tondela players Super League Greece players Atromitos F.C. players Latvian Higher League players Riga FC players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Latvia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Latvia