 Veloso with Portugal at Euro 2012 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Miguel Luís Pinto Veloso | ||
| Date of birth | 11 May 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Coimbra, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Dynamo Kyiv | ||
| Number | 4 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1999 | Benfica | ||
| 1999–2000 | CAC Pontinha | ||
| 2000–2005 | Sporting CP | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2005–2010 | Sporting CP | 98 | (4) |
| 2005–2006 | → Olivais Moscavide (loan) | 28 | (7) |
| 2010–2012 | Genoa | 49 | (2) |
| 2012– | Dynamo Kyiv | 37 | (2) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2006–2008 | Portugal U21 | 10 | (1) |
| 2007– | Portugal | 43 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 December 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 October 2013 | |||
Miguel Luís Pinto Veloso (Portuguese pronunciation: [miˈɣɛɫ ˈlwiʃ ˈpĩtu vɨˈlozu]; born 11 May 1986) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for FC Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine and the Portuguese national team. Mainly a defensive midfielder, he can also operate as an offensive left back.
Club career
Born in Coimbra, Miguel Veloso started his football career at S.L. Benfica, but was rejected for being slightly overweight at the time. Later, at the age of 13, he entered Lisbon neighbours Sporting Clube de Portugal's youth system. 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.[1][2]
In order to give him more playing time, Sporting loaned Veloso to Clube Desportivo Olivais e Moscavide in the third division, and he helped it promote to the second level 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 asÂnderson Polga, Tonel, Marco Caneira or Custódio – and ended up playing 23 league matches during the campaign, as Sporting (again) 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 Vieiraand Luís Figo from playing effectively; before the match much was made of Figo's homecoming, but by the end of the 90 minutes all the talk was about Veloso, who turned in a Man of the matchdisplay.
In 2007–08 Veloso was ever-present in Sporting's central midfield, alongside another club youth graduate, João Moutinho. The club again lost the league to F.C. Porto, and the same befell in the following season, with the player being involved in some run-ins with manager Paulo Bento;[3] in the previous off-season and following January transfer window, he attracted interest from severalPremier League clubs, but nothing materialized.[4][5][6]
Veloso helped Sporting reach the last-16 in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, after scoring in both legs of the 4–2 aggregate win against Everton;[7][8] the club could only, however, finish fourth in the domestic league.
On 30 July 2010, Veloso was sold to Genoa C.F.C. in Italy.[9] On 4 July 2012 he moved teams and countries again, signing a four-year contract with FC Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Premier League.[10][11]
International career
On 14 August 2007, following impressive performances for Portugal's under-21 side in the 2007 UEFA European Football Championship in June (the skipperscored twice in three games, albeit in a group stage exit),[12] Veloso was called up for the full squad for the first time, for a Euro 2008 qualifier againstArmenia. He would make his international debut against Azerbaijan on 13 October.
In the tournament finals' group stage, Veloso appeared in the 2–0 loss against Switzerland on 16 June 2008, a game in which nine out of eleven regular team starters were rested. After a long spell out of the Portugal squad, he was recalled by coach Carlos Queiroz for a vital 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match inDenmark in September 2009 (1–1 draw). He netted his first international goal in the same competition, as the national side defeated Malta 4–0 in Guimarães, on 14 October.
