Willy Johnson Semedo Afonso (born 27 April 1994) 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 winger for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club Omonia. Born in France, Semedo plays for the Cape Verde national team.

Club career

On 31 January 2018, Semedo signed with

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

after a successful spell with the Cypriot club

Alki Oroklini Alki Oroklini was a Cypriot professional football club based in Oroklini. The team was founded as ''Omonia Oroklinis'' in 1979. Omonia had one participation in the Fourth Division. In 2014 the team changed their name to Alki Oroklini, when bu ...

. He made his debut for the Belgium club in a 2–2

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

draw with

K.R.C. Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk or Racing Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four championship title ...

, on 13 April 2018. On 30 August 2018, Semedo was loaned to

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League, previously known as 1B Pro League is the second-highest division in the Football in Belgium, Belgian football Belgian football league system, league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was created by the ...

club

Roeselare Roeselare (; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The name of the city is derived from two ...

, for half a season, in order for him to get more playing time. On 1 February 2019, he moved to

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

side Politehnica Iași. Semedo subsequently signed a six month contract with the Romanian club. In July 2019, Semedo signed for

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 ...

club

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 ...

on a two-year contract, where he scored 11 goals in 61 total appearances. He then moved to Cypriot club

Pafos FC Pafos F.C. () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Paphos. It was established in 2014 following the merger of two local clubs, AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia, with the aim of creating a stronger and more competitive team to represent ...

on a free transfer, where he totalled 20 goal contributions in 48 games. On 28 January 2023, Semedo signed for Saudi Arabian club Al-Faisaly, however, at the end of the season he returned to Cyprus, this time for 21-time domestic champions Omonia. The 2023–24 season was Semedo's best in terms of goal contributions, as he scored 14 and assisted 7 in 38 appearances in all competitions.

International career

Born in France, Semedo is of Cape Verdean descent. On 1 October 2020, Semedo was called by

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 ...

. He made his international debut in a friendly 2–1 win over

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

on 7 October 2020. Since then, Semedo has featured for Cape Verde in the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's ass ...

, the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and 2026 World Cup qualifiers, as well as the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

, where he helped Cape Verde reach the quarter finals, equalling the team's best performance in the tournament.

References

External links

* 1994 births Living people Footballers from Montfermeil Cape Verdean men's footballers Cape Verde men's international footballers French men's footballers French sportspeople of Cape Verdean descent Men's association football midfielders Royal Charleroi S.C. players Alki Oroklini players K.S.V. Roeselare players FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players Grenoble Foot 38 players Pafos FC players Al Faisaly FC players Belgian Pro League players Cypriot First Division players Cypriot Second Division players Liga I players Ligue 2 players Saudi First Division League players Cape Verdean expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus French expatriate sportspeople in Romania Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia French expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century French sportsmen {{France-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub