Francisco Soares


Francisco das Chagas Soares dos Santos, known as Tiquinho or Soares, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Portuguese club FC Porto.
Having only played in the lower leagues of his homeland, he moved to Portugal aged 23 and played over 150 Primeira Liga games for Nacional, Vitória de Guimarães and Porto, scoring over 60 goals.

Club career

Brazil

Born in Sousa, Paraíba, but raised in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Soares started his career with Palmeiras FC das Rocas. After impressing with the side he moved to América Futebol Clube in 2009, initially assigned to the youth setup.
Soares made his professional debut for the latter club on 14 August 2010, coming on as a substitute in a 1–2 Série B home loss against Vila Nova Futebol Clube. He only appeared in one further match in the championship, before being released on 3 September of that year.
Soares subsequently represented Botafogo Futebol Clube, Sousa Esporte Clube, Centro Sportivo Paraibano, Caicó EC, Visão Celeste EC, Cerâmica Atlético Clube, Treze Futebol Clube, Veranópolis Esporte Clube Recreativo e Cultural, Esporte Clube Pelotas and Lucena SC.

Nacional

On 27 January 2015, Soares moved abroad for the first time in his career after signing with Primeira Liga side C.D. Nacional, still owned by CSP. He made his debut for the club on 21 February, replacing Lucas João in a 1–3 away loss against S.C. Braga.
Soares scored his first goal abroad on 20 April 2015, netting the equaliser in a 1–1 Madeira derby at C.S. Marítimo. The following 20 March, he scored a brace in a 3–2 home win over Vitória de Guimarães.

Vitória Guimarães

On 25 May 2016, Soares signed for Vitória de Guimarães. He made his debut for his new team on 14 August, starting in a 0–1 home loss to Braga, and scored his first goal 12 days later in a 5–3 win against F.C. Paços de Ferreira also at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, through a penalty.
On 4 November 2016, Soares scored a double in a 2–1 home defeat of former club Nacional. He finished his spell in Minho with 22 official appearances, and nine goals.

Porto

On 23 January 2017, Soares signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with FC Porto, with a €40 million clause. His first match took place on 4 February, when he started and netted twice in a 2–1 home victory over Sporting CP.
Soares made his UEFA Champions League debut on 22 February 2017, starting in a 0–2 home loss to Juventus F.C. for the round of 16. In his first full season, he scored eight goals from 24 appearances to help the club win the national championship after a five-year wait.
Soares was not initially included in the 2018–19 Champions League squad by manager Sérgio Conceição, due to injury. On 18 January 2019, he put three past G.D. Chaves in a 4–1 away victory, his tally of 15 over the campaign eventually being the best for Porto and fourth-best in the league. On 25 May he opened the scoring in the final of the Taça de Portugal and also converted his team's first shot in the penalty shootout after the 2–2 draw, but Sporting were victorious; he dedicated his goal to goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who had suffered a heart attack weeks earlier.
On 27 February 2020, Soares was sent off for the first time in his career as Porto lost 3–1 at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League, for elbowing Jonathan Tah in the face.

Career statistics

Honours

Botafogo-PB
CSP
Lucena
Porto