Ferro (footballer)

Francisco Reis Ferreira (born 26 March 1997), commonly known as Ferro, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Supersport HNL club Hajduk Split.

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Reis and the second or paternal family name is Ferreira.
Ferro
Ferro with Valencia in 2021
Personal information
Full name Francisco Reis Ferreira
Date of birth (1997-03-26) 26 March 1997
Place of birth Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Team information
Current team
 Hajduk Split
Number 4
Youth career
2005–2008 Oliveirense
2008–2009 Casa do Benfica de Estarreja
2009–2011 AD Taboeira
2011–2016 Benfica
2014 → Casa Pia (loan)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2019 Benfica B 91 (5)
2019–2023 Benfica 43 (3)
2021 → Valencia (loan) 3 (0)
2022 → Hajduk Split (loan) 13 (1)
2022–2023 → Vitesse (loan) 9 (0)
2023– Hajduk Split 9 (0)
International career
2013–2014 Portugal U17 14 (0)
2015 Portugal U18 7 (1)
2015–2016 Portugal U19 13 (1)
2016–2017 Portugal U20 9 (1)
2017–2018 Portugal U21 8 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 June 2023

Formed at Benfica, he made over 60 appearances for the club, winning the Primeira Liga in 2018–19. He was loaned to Valencia, Hajduk Split and Vitesse, winning the Croatian Football Cup with the second in 2022.

Ferro earned 51 caps for Portugal at youth level, and was called up for the senior team in 2019.

Club career

Born in Oliveira de Azeméis, Ferro started his football career at local club Oliveirense in 2005, where he remained until 2008. He then played for CB Estarreja and AD Taboeira before joining Benfica's youth system in 2011.[1] Following his progress to the club's reserve team, he made his professional debut in a 2–1 away win over Oliveirense in LigaPro on 30 January 2016.[2]

Ferro was promoted to Benfica's first team on 1 February 2019, alongside three other reserve team players,[3] and six days later, he debuted with the Lisbon side as a 38th-minute substitute, replacing Jardel in a 2–1 home win over Sporting CP in the first leg of the Taça de Portugal semi-finals.[1][4] In his first appearance as a starter, he scored his first goal for Benfica, the sixth in a 10–0 home thrashing of Nacional in Primeira Liga on 10 February.[5]

Four days later, Ferro made his European debut as Benfica beat Galatasaray 2–1 in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League round of 32, their first ever victory in Turkey.[6] He scored his first UEFA goal on 14 March, the second in a 3–0 (a.e.t.) win over Dinamo Zagreb in the round of 16's second leg.[7]

On 17 October 2019, Ferro extended his Benfica contract until 2024.[8]

On 31 January 2021, Spanish club Valencia announced the signing of Ferro on loan for the remainder of the 2020–21 season.[9] He made three La Liga appearances, beginning on 14 February with a 2–0 loss at Real Madrid.[10]

Unused by Benfica in the league, Ferro was loaned to Hajduk Split of the Croatian Football League on 31 January 2022.[11] On his debut for the eventual runners-up five days later, he scored in the third minute of a 4–0 win at Gorica;[12] he equalised in the Dalmatian club's 3–1 win over Rijeka in the cup final on 26 May.[13]

On 14 July 2022, Ferro joined Vitesse in the Netherlands on a season-long loan, with an option to buy.[14]

After just half year with Vitesse, he rejoined Hajduk Split, but this time on permanent transfer for the fee around 500,000 €.

International career

Ferro earned 51 caps for Portugal at youth level, starting with a 2–0 under-17 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 8 October 2013, in qualification for the following May's UEFA European Championship. He was called up for the finals in Malta, where the team were eliminated 2–0 in the semi-finals by eventual champions England.[15] On 3 June 2015, he scored the first of his three international goals at the end of a 2–0 under-18 win over Norway in Mafra.[16]

On 10 November 2015, Ferro scored the only goal as the under-19 team defeated Moldova in Nelas in a qualifier for the European Championship.[17] He played the following July in the finals in Germany, where the side were eliminated by France in the last four.[18] He also went with the under-20 team to the 2017 FIFA World Cup in South Korea.[19]

In early September 2019, Ferro was called up for the first time to the Portugal national team for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Serbia and Lithuania, replacing injured Pepe.[20]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 18 June 2023[21]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Benfica B 2015–16 LigaPro 90————90
2016–17 303————303
2017–18 332————332
2018–19 190————190
Total 915————915
Benfica 2018–19 Primeira Liga 13210004[lower-alpha 1]1—183
2019–20 26160007[lower-alpha 2]01[lower-alpha 3]0401
2020–21 4010101[lower-alpha 1]00070
2021–22 00101000—20
Total 433902012110674
Valencia (loan) 2020–21 La Liga 30————30
Hajduk Split (loan) 2021–22 Prva HNL 13111———142
Vitesse (loan) 2022–23 Eredivisie 9010———100
Hajduk Split 2022–23 Prva HNL 9020———110
Career total 1689131201211019611
  1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  2. Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. Appearance in Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

Honours

Benfica

Hajduk Split

Individual

References
  1. "Quem é Francisco Ferreira, ou Ferro, o primeiro estreante do Benfica de Bruno Lage?" [Who is Francisco Ferreira, or Ferro, the first debutant of Bruno Lage's Benfica]. Observador (in Portuguese). 7 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  2. "UD Oliveirense - SL Benfica B (Jornada 27 Segunda Liga 2015–2016)". Liga Portugal (in Portuguese). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  3. Sanches, João (1 February 2019). "Zlobin, Ferro, Florentino, and Jota permanently in the first team". S.L. Benfica. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  4. "Jardel saiu lesionado, Ferro em estreia" [Jardel went off injured, Ferro in debut]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 6 February 2019. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  5. "Benfica 10–0 Nacional: Chuva de golos deixa 'águias' a um ponto da liderança" [Benfica 10–0 Nacional: goal rain moves "eagles" within a point of the lead]. SAPO Desporto (in Portuguese). 10 February 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  6. Fernandes, Nuno (14 February 2019). "Benfica de Lage faz história na Turquia e tem os oitavos à vista" [Lage's Benfica make history in Turkey and have the round of 16 in sight]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  7. "Ferro: "Golo foi especial porque foi o primeiro na Europa"" [Ferro: "Goal was special because it was my first in Europe]. SAPO Desporto (in Portuguese). 14 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  8. "Benfica oficializa renovação de Ferro" [Benfica make Ferro's renewal official]. Record (in Portuguese). 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  9. "Comunicado oficial Ferro" [Official announcement Ferro] (in Spanish). Valencia CF. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  10. Franco, Rafael (15 February 2021). "Real Madrid estraga estreia a Ferro" [Real Madrid ruin Ferro's debut]. Record (in Portuguese). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  11. "Benfica arruma a casa: Ferro emprestado para a Croácia e Helton Leite para França" [Benfica tidy the house: Ferro loaned to Croatia and Helton Leite to France]. SAPO (in Portuguese). 31 January 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  12. "Defesa central Ferro marca na estreia pelo Hajduk Split" [Central defender Ferro scores on debut for Hajduk Split]. Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (in Portuguese). 5 February 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  13. Pedrosa Coelho, Eduardo (26 May 2022). "Ferro conquista a Taça da Croácia ao serviço do Hajduk Split" [Ferro wins Croatian Cup in service of Hajduk Split]. Jornal de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  14. "Vitesse heet Portugese verdediger Ferro welkom" [Vitesse welcomes Portuguese defender Ferro] (in Dutch). SBV Vitesse. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  15. "Sub-17: PORTUGAL-INGLATERRA, 0-2" [Under-17: PORTUGAL-ENGLAND, 0-2]. Record (in Portuguese). 18 May 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  16. "Portugal derrota Noruega (2-0)" [Portugal defeat Norway (2-0)]. Record (in Portuguese). 3 June 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  17. "Portugal entra a ganhar no apuramento para o Euro" [Portugal get off to winning start in Euro qualifiers]. Record (in Portuguese). 10 November 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  18. Palma, Tiago (21 July 2016). "Portugal perde (3-1) com a França e falha final do Euro Sub-19" [Portugal lose (3-1) to France and miss Under-19 Euro final]. Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  19. "Francisco Ferreira: "Agora, o nosso sonho é vencer o Uruguai"" [Francisco Ferreira: "Now, our dream is to defeat Uruguay"]. SAPO (in Portuguese). 1 June 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  20. "Portugal's Pepe ruled out of Euro 2020 qualifiers". The Times of India. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  21. Ferro at Soccerway
  22. Benfica 5–0 Sporting Lisbon Soccerway
  23. "Rijeka - Hajduk 1:3". HNS-CFF (in Croatian). 26 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  24. "Team of the Tournament" (PDF). UEFA. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2014.
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