Diogo Calila

Diogo Calila came through Benfica's academy for eight years. He joined as a boy in 2009, left briefly for Paços de Ferreira's youth ranks in 2017, then returned to Os Belenenses, the club that eventually handed him his professional break in January 2019.

That step up came through Belenenses SAD, where his playing time grew steadily each season: four league appearances in his first campaign, then twelve, then twenty, then twenty-six. Across three and a half seasons in Lisbon he made 71 appearances and scored once.

Santa Clara signed him in August 2022 for a fee of around €250,000, with Belenenses SAD retaining 20 per cent of any future sale. It has not been without setbacks: in the 2023/24 season, Santa Clara dropped into Liga Portugal 2, and Calila played eighteen matches as the club won the second division and returned immediately to the top flight. He has since settled back into a regular role.

Born in Portugal, Calila holds dual Portuguese and Mozambican nationality and chose to represent Mozambique internationally. His debut came in September 2025, a heavy World Cup qualifying defeat to Uganda, and he went on to be included in Mozambique's squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. There, on 28 December 2025, he scored against Gabon in a 3-2 win — the first goal by a Mozambican player in the tournament's history.