Miguel Veloso

Sporting CP

Born in Coimbra, Veloso started his football career at S.L. Benfica, but was rejected for being slightly overweight at the time, entering Lisbon neighbours Sporting CP's youth system at the age of 14. There, he was promoted to the first team for the 2004–05 pre-season, which took place mainly in England; he started out as a central defender. In order to receive more playing time, Veloso was loaned to C.D. Olivais e Moscavide in the third division, and he helped them to promote to the Segunda Liga with a career-best seven goals. As a result, he was recalled by the Lions — though it appeared difficult for him to grab a place in the starting team, because of the presence of players with much more experience such as Ânderson Polga, Tonel, Marco Caneira or Custódio — and ended up playing 23 Primeira Liga matches during the campaign as his team finished second. He was equally impressive in his debut in the UEFA Champions League, a 1–0 home win against Inter Milan where he stopped Patrick Vieira and Luís Figo from playing effectively, earning Player of the match accolades in the process. In 2007–08, Veloso was ever-present in Sporting's central midfield alongside fellow youth graduate João Moutinho. The club again lost the league to FC Porto, and the same befell in the following season, with the player being involved in some run-ins with manager Paulo Bento. In the previous off-season and the following January transfer window, he attracted interest from several…

Veloso acted as captain for Portugal at the 2003 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, helping the nation to emerge victorious on home soil after defeating Spain 2–1 in an Iberian final played in Viseu. He was elected the tournament's Golden Player, and subsequently also helped the team reach the quarter-finals in that year's FIFA World Cup held in Finland. On 14 August 2007, following impressive performances for the under-21s in the 2007 UEFA European Championship in June (the skipper scored twice in three games, albeit in a group stage exit), Veloso was called up to the full side for the first time, for a Euro 2008 qualifier against Armenia, but only made his international debut against Azerbaijan on 13 October. In the finals' group stage, he appeared in the 2–0 loss against Switzerland, a game in which nine out of 11 regular starters were rested. Veloso was recalled by coach Carlos Queiroz after a long spell out of the squad, for vital 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches with Denmark and Hungary in September 2009, but did not leave the bench on either occasion; he did take the field when they met the latter again the following month, winning 3–0. He netted his first international goal in the same competition, in a 4–0 victory over Malta in Guimarães on 14 October. He was chosen for the finals in South Africa where he made two brief substitute appearances in the group stage, assisting the concluder by Tiago in a 7–0 rout of North Korea. On 15 November 2011, Veloso scored…

Club

International

Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first.

Veloso's father, António, was also a footballer. A defender, he played several years with Benfica, and was also a longtime Portuguese international. In 2013, Veloso married the daughter of Genoa club president Enrico Preziosi, Paola. Their son was born in 2016.