Júnior José Correia (born 22 October 1996), known as Zé Turbo, is a Bissau-Guinean 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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Pari NN. He was on the books of Sporting and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

as a teenager, but did not make a senior appearance for either club, instead having loans at lower-league teams in Portugal, Italy and Spain. In 2018 he moved to South America and represented

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

of Argentina and

Club Nacional Club Nacional is a Paraguayan professional football club based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1904, the club currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División, and holds its home games at Estadio Arsenio Erico. Int ...

of Paraguay, before having spells in Switzerland, China, Qatar and Russia.

Club career

Sporting

Zé Turbo was formed at

Real Sport Clube Real Sport Clube is a Portuguese football club situated in Queluz that competes in the Liga 3. They were founded in 1951. Current squad Honours * Campeonato de Portugal: 1 ** 2016–17 References External links * ...

before transferring across

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

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

in 2014. After scoring twice against

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

, he signed a five-year contract with a buyout clause of €45 million that November, amidst interest from a host of Italian and English teams and Sporting's rivals Benfica and

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 ...

Inter Milan

In February 2015, he moved to

. On 31 May, in the final game of the season at home to

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

, he was called up to a senior squad for the first time, remaining unused in a 4–3 victory. On 4 August 2016, Zé Turbo was loaned to Portuguese

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 ...

team

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 ...

on a season-long loan. Sixteen days later, he made his professional debut in a match at Chaves, replacing Miguel Cardoso for the final 19 minutes of a 1–1 draw. On 15 January 2017, he was loaned to

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...

in Spain's

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

for the rest of the season. He made his debut for them two weeks later as an 82nd-minute substitute for Kike Márquez in a 3–2 home win over

Atlético Mancha Real Atlético Mancha Real is a Spanish football team based in Mancha Real in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1984, the club competes in , holding home games at Estadio Polideportivo Municipal de La Juventud, with a capacity of 1,50 ...

. On 24 August 2017, Zé Turbo signed for

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 2 September, playing the final nine minutes of a 1–0 loss at Casertana in place of Cristian Caccetta. His loan was terminated on 17 January 2018. After his time in Catania, Zé Turbo was immediately loaned to

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

of the third-tier Campeonato de Portugal for the remainder of 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 ...

. He played 12 games for the team from the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

and scored his first senior goal to open a 2–1 win at

Clube Olímpico do Montijo Clube Olímpico do Montijo is a Portuguese football club based in Montijo. Founded in 2007, it currently competes in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo da Liberdade'', with a 3,000 capacity. History Clube Olímpico do Mo ...

on 15 April.

South America

In July 2018, Zé Turbo moved to

of the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

, signing a one-year contract on a free transfer. He made one appearance for the team from

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, as a 70th-minute substitute for Luís Leal in a 1–0 loss to

Club Atlético Aldosivi Club Atlético Aldosivi (usually called simply Aldosivi) is an Argentine football club based in the city of Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province. The senior squad will play in 2025 in the Primera División, the first division of the Argentine fo ...

on 25 November. At the start of 2019 he moved on to

of the

Paraguayan Primera División The División Profesional de la Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship ...

Switzerland

On 17 July 2019, Zé Turbo returned to Europe and signed a two-year deal with

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

club

FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss Association football, football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club set to plays in the Promotion League from 2025–26, the third tier of Swiss football after relegation from Challenge League (Switzerland), Ch ...

. Eleven days later he made his debut as a starter the season began with a 2–0 loss at

FC Vaduz Fussball Club Vaduz (En: ''Football Club Vaduz'') is a professional association football, football club from Vaduz, Liechtenstein that plays in the Challenge League (Switzerland), Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. The club pla ...

, being substituted for Karim Barry after 58 minutes. On 5 October he scored his first goal, the game's only away to

FC Chiasso FC Chiasso is a Swiss football club based in Chiasso. It was founded in 1905. Chiasso also played in the Italian first league between 1914 and 1923. The team currently play in 3. Liga, the seventh tier of Swiss football. History Between 1927 ...

. Remaining in the same league, Zé Turbo cancelled his contract to move to

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

on 17 February 2020, on a deal until 2023. He scored one goal in the remainder of the season, as a substitute in a 5–3 home win over his previous employer on 21 July.

Later career

In February 2021, Zé Turbo moved to Chinese second-tier club

Nantong Zhiyun Nantong Zhiyun Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Rugao, Jiangsu, that competes in . Nantong Zhiyun plays its home matches at the Rugao Olympic Sports Center, located within Rugao. The club was founded on 13 March ...

. Two years later he signed for

Al-Markhiya SC Al-Markhiya Sports Club () is a Qatari multi-sports club, based in the Al Markhiya district of Doha. Its football department plays in the Qatar Stars League. It was widely regarded as the fastest improving team due to it winning the Second Divis ...

in the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

. On 2 August 2023, he returned to Europe with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club Pari NN on a three-year deal. On 22 January 2025, Pari NN loaned him to

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

in Cyprus.

International career

Zé Turbo made his debut for the

Guinea-Bissau national football team The Guinea-Bissau national football team ( Portuguese: Seleção nacional de futebol da Guiné-Bissau) represents Guinea-Bissau in men's international association football and it is controlled by the Football Federation of Guinea-Bissau, The ...

on 14 June 2023 in a Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against

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 ...

, substituting Mama Baldé in the 79th minute. At 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 ...

held the following January, he scored his first international goal as an added-time consolation in a 4–2 group loss to

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

, again as a late replacement.

Personal life

Two days after his professional debut, Zé Turbo was involved in a car crash in

Santa Comba Dão Santa Comba Dão () is a city and a municipality in the Viseu District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 11,597, in an area of 111.95 km2. The city proper has a population of 3,300. The present mayor is Leonel Gouveia, elected in 2013 ...

, suffering only light injuries to his arm. Zé Turbo considered retiring from football after the death of his mother, but continued playing in her memory.

Career statistics

References

External links