João Moutinho

João Moutinho made his first-team debut for Sporting CP on 4 January 2005, coming on as a second-half substitute in a Portuguese Cup tie against Pampilhosa da Serra. That same season he was named the best young player in the Portuguese league, and he stayed with Sporting's first team until 2010 without ever going out on loan.

A move to Porto that summer, for a fee of €11m, brought three league titles, a Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Europa League, all inside three seasons. In 2013 he left for Monaco in a €25m transfer, and helped the club win the French title in 2016/17. He joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, where supporters voted him the club's player of the season in his first year, 2018/19. He signed for Braga in 2023 as a free agent, and the following season won the Portuguese League Cup.

With the national team, Moutinho debuted against Egypt on 17 August 2005 and went on to win 146 caps, scoring seven goals — the second-highest appearance tally in Portugal's history behind Cristiano Ronaldo. His honours with Portugal include the European Championship in 2016, in which he featured in six matches, the UEFA Nations League in 2018/19, and bronze at Euro 2012, where he played every minute of the tournament, and at the 2017 Confederations Cup. He started Portugal's first two games at the 2018 World Cup but was left out of the squad for the 2022 tournament, and retired from international football that year.

He has been made a Commander of the Order of Merit of Portugal.