Joao Carvalho

In the 2022/23 Taça NextGen final against Estoril Praia, he played the full ninety minutes and extra time, then saved a spot-kick in the shootout as Braga's under-23 side won 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw. The performance was part of a season in which he was named the best goalkeeper in Portugal's Liga Revelação.

Carvalho came through Benfica's academy from 2012 to 2019, spent a year at Alverca, and joined Braga's youth setup in 2020. He worked through the club's age groups — the under-19s, then two years as first-choice goalkeeper for the under-23 side — before establishing himself with Braga B in Liga 3 from 2024/25. In his first full season with the B team he made 25 appearances and kept six clean sheets across the opening half of the campaign; in 2025/26 he added five clean sheets from ten matches.

After caps at under-18, under-19 and under-20 level, he debuted for Portugal's under-21s in March 2024 and had reached ten caps by November 2025. The senior national team called him into an extended squad for World Cup 2026 qualifiers in November 2025, though he did not take the pitch. On 16 May 2026, he was sent on as a substitute in the 80th minute of a 2-2 draw with Estrela da Amadora, his first minutes in the Primeira Liga.