Evandro Brandão


Evandro Elmer de Carvalho Brandão is an Angolan professional footballer who plays for Israeli club Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. as a striker.

Club career

England

Brandão was born in Luanda, Angola, but spent the first years of his life in Portugal before moving to England at the age of 9. He began his football career at Blackburn Rovers, before joining Walsall in 2003.
After three years with Walsall, Brandão signed for Manchester United on 21 October 2006, after impressing assistant manager Carlos Queiroz while on trial with United at the 2006 Under-17 Nike Cup. He had to wait five months to make his debut for the under-18s, but played in four of their last five games as the side finished fourth in the 2006–07 Premier Academy League, before being offered a trainee contract in July 2007.
The following season, Brandão scored four goals in 18 appearances for the under-18 team, adding four in 15 appearances the year after – he also made his debut for the reserves in 2008–09, coming on as a 69th-minute substitute for Magnus Wolff Eikrem in a Manchester Senior Cup game away to Bury; however, he was unable to make any more of an impression at the club, and was released on the expiry of his contract in June 2009.

Portugal

Brandão signed with Braga in the summer of 2009 but, just five months later, the deal was usurped by Benfica, who signed him on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
After spending a year in the Benfica academy, Brandão went out on loan twice in 2010–11, first to Segunda Liga club Fátima and then to Gondomar in the third division, for whom he netted 10 goals in 12 games.

Hungary

After failing to break into the Benfica first team, Brandão moved to Hungarian club Videoton in July 2011, coached by his former Portugal under-16 manager Paulo Sousa. He scored his first and only goal for the side on 20 August, contributing to a 4–1 home win against Pécs.

Later years

In the summer of 2012, Brandão signed with Olhanense in the Portuguese top flight, on loan. He scored his first goal in the competition on 15 December to help to a 2–2 home draw to Gil Vicente, as his team went on to finish as the first above the relegation zone.
Subsequently, Brandão represented in quick succession Tondela, Libolo, Kabuscorp and Sport Benfica e Castelo Branco, netting only eight times combined. On 12 July 2016, he agreed to a deal at Fafe from the Portuguese second tier.
Brandão scored his first hat-trick at the professional level on 15 January 2017, contributing to a 4–1 win over Braga B at the Parque Municipal dos Desportos de Fafe. In June, following his team's relegation, he signed for Leixões also in the second division.
On 10 September 2019, Brandão joined Israeli Liga Leumit club Maccabi Petah Tikva FC.

International career

At youth level, Brandão earned 24 caps for Portugal. He switched allegiance to Angola as a senior, making his debut on 13 August 2014 by playing the last four minutes of a 0–0 friendly draw to Angola.

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 June 2019Estádio Municipal 25 de Abril, Penafiel, Portugal1–02–0Friendly

Honours

Club

Videoton
Libolo