Jõao Félix
João Félix Sequeira is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Portugal national team. He is known for his versatility, finishing, creativity, and dribbling, and can also play as a winger or an attacking midfielder. Félix initially trained at Porto’s youth ranks before moving to rivals Benfica in 2015. He began playing for the latter’s reserve team a year later and was promoted to the first-team in 2018, making his professional debut at age 17. He then starred as a goalscorer and helped Benfica win the league title in his first and only season with them, and was awarded Primeira Liga’s Best Young Player of the Year and the Golden Boy award.Internationally, he became the youngest ever player to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Europa League, aged 19. Félix’s performances sparked the interest of several European clubs, with Atlético Madrid signing him in 2019 for a club-record transfer worth €126 million (£113 million), the fourth-most expensive football transfer, the second-most ever paid for a teenager and the highest fee for a Portuguese player leaving the domestic league. Shortly after, Félix was listed among the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or and finished third for the Kopa Trophy in 2019. In his second season at the club, he helped the team win the 2020–21 La Liga, which ended the club’s 7-year league title drought. Félix is a former Portugal youth international, representing his country at under-18, under-19, and under-21 levels. He earned his first cap for the senior national team, during the semi-finals of the 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, winning the inaugural edition of the competition with his nation on home soil.
Did you Know?
Félix is regarded as a highly skillful and technical player capable of playing in several offensive positions, due to his versatility; throughout his career, he has been deployed as a striker, as a second striker, or even as a winger, although his primary position is that of an attacking midfielder. With Benfica, Félix usually played as a second striker in a 4–4–2 formation, where he was tasked with linking up the midfield with the attack, as well as creating opportunities for the team’s main striker, while also being given the freedom to make runs into the box and score goals himself. With Atlético Madrid, he has occasionally played in a similar role, but has often been deployed as a winger on either flanks or the second striker in the team’s 4–4–2 formation. A technical gifted and intelligent player, with an eye for goal, his primary traits are his creativity, finishing, touch on the ball, and dribbling skills, as well as his vision and precise passing. On 3 July 2019, Félix signed a seven-year contract with Spanish club Atlético Madrid for a transfer fee of €126 million (£113 million), the fourth highest sum ever paid in football (this was also Benfica’s biggest transfer and Atlético’s most expensive signing ever) as well as the second highest fee ever paid for a teenager (after Kylian Mbappé), with the Spanish club initially paying €30 million and the rest €96 million via installments, thus surpassing Félix’s €120 million release clause, and with Benfica paying €12 million in mediation services. Upon his arrival to the club he was handed the number 7 shirt previously worn by Antoine Griezmann, who had departed to Barcelona.
