Héldon Ramos

Héldon Augusto Almeida Ramos (born 14 November 1988), known simply as Héldon and sometimes nicknamed Nhuck (pronounced [ɲuk]), is a Cape Verdean professional footballer who plays for Saudi club Al-Taawoun FC as an attacking midfielder.

This name uses Portuguese naming customs: the first or maternal family name is Almeida and the second or paternal family name is Ramos.

Héldon

Héldon in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Héldon Augusto Almeida Ramos
Date of birth	(1988-11-14) 14 November 1988
Place of birth	Sal, Cape Verde
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team	Al-Taawoun
Number	20
Youth career
2005–2006	Batuque
2006–2007	Académica
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2008	Caniçal	21	(0)
2008–2010	Fátima	47	(11)
2010–2014	Marítimo	82	(15)
2010–2011	Marítimo B	9	(4)
2014–2018	Sporting CP	12	(1)
2015	→ Córdoba (loan)	14	(0)
2015–2017	→ Rio Ave (loan)	51	(4)
2017–2018	→ Vitória Guimarães (loan)	29	(5)
2018–	Al-Taawoun	48	(16)
National team^‡
2008–	Cape Verde	48	(15)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 March 2020 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 September 2018

He spent most of his career in Portugal, primarily in representation of Marítimo, and joined Sporting in 2014.

A full international since 2008, Héldon played for Cape Verde at two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

Club career

Early career / Marítimo

Born in Sal, Héldon made his professional debut in 2007 with C.F. Caniçal, in the Portuguese third division. He moved to C.D. Fátima – in the same tier – the following year, helping them win promotion to the second level.

In August of the following year, Héldon signed with C.S. Marítimo in the Primeira Liga. On 26 November 2011 he scored his second official goal for the Madeira club – first in the league – netting a last-minute penalty in a derby against C.D. Nacional (2–2 away draw, his team played the entire second half with ten players).[1]

On 8 December 2013, against the same opponent but in a home fixture, Héldon scored twice for the same result, as Nacional in turn played nearly 30 minutes with one man less.[2]

Sporting

On 31 January of the following year, Héldon joined fellow league club Sporting CP in a €1.5 million deal.[3] He made his debut on 11 February, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–2 derby loss at S.L. Benfica.[4] He scored his tenth goal of the season and first for his new team on 12 April, when he came on as a substitute for Diego Capel with two minutes remaining and confirmed a 2–0 win over Gil Vicente F.C. at the Estádio José Alvalade.[5]

Héldon signed with Córdoba CF on 28 January 2015, on loan until the end of the campaign.[6] He made his La Liga debut three days later, starting and being booked in a 0–1 away loss against Celta de Vigo.[7] He failed to find the net during his spell with the Andalusians, who suffered relegation.

On 8 August 2015, Héldon was loaned to Rio Ave F.C. for the upcoming top flight season.[8] He attained his first goals for the Vila do Conde-based side on 19 September, a first-half brace in a 3–0 triumph at F.C. Paços de Ferreira.[9]

Héldon spent the following two years still on loan, at Rio Ave[10] and Vitória de Guimarães.[11] He scored his first goal for the latter on 24 September 2017, netting in the last minutes of a 2–1 home win against former club Marítimo.[12]

Al-Taawoun

On 2 July 2018, Héldon joined Al-Taawoun FC on a two-year contract.[13]

International career

Héldon made his international debut for Cape Verde on 11 October 2008, replacing Ronny Souto during half-time of a 1–3 away loss against Tanzania for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He scored his first goal in his next game, opening a 2–0 friendly win in Malta on 4 September 2009;[14] he was the country's top scorer during the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign,[15] recording two goals in a 4–2 win over Liberia on 26 March 2011.[16]

Héldon was named to the squad that participated in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations held in South Africa,[17] and featured in every game as the nation reached the quarter-finals. In their final group against Angola, he came on as a 46th-minute substitute and scored a last-minute winner, making it 2–1 and causing his team to advance.[18] He was also selected for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations,[19] where he won and converted a penalty to equalise in a 1–1 draw against Tunisia in the team's opening game.[20]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 21 April 2018[21]

Club	Season	League		Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Caniçal	2007–08	21	0	0	0	—				21	0
	Total	21	0	0	0	—				21	0
Fátima	2008–09	30	10	3	1	—				33	11
	2009–10	17	1	2	2	3	1	—		22	4
	Total	47	11	5	3	3	1	—		55	15
Marítimo	2010–11	15	0	1	1	3	0	0	0	19	1
	2011–12	29	4	3	0	4	0	—		36	4
	2012–13	22	2	0	0	2	1	9	2	33	5
	2013–14	16	9	2	2	2	0	—		20	11
	Total	82	15	6	3	11	1	9	2	108	21
Marítimo B	2010–11	9	4	—						9	4
	Total	9	4	—						9	4
Sporting	2013–14	10	1	0	0	0	0	—		10	1
	2014–15	2	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	4	1
	Total	12	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	14	2
Córdoba (loan)	2014–15	14	0	0	0	—				14	0
	Total	14	0	0	0	—				14	0
Rio Ave (loan)	2015–16	24	4	3	1	0	0	—		27	5
	2016–17	27	0	1	1	3	1	2	0	33	2
	Total	51	4	4	2	3	1	2	0	60	7
Vitória Guimarães (loan)	2017–18	26	5	2	1	0	0	6	0	34	6
	Total	26	5	2	1	0	0	6	0	34	6
Career total		262	40	17	8	18	4	17	2	314	54

International goals

As of 17 November 2015 (Cape Verde score listed first, score column indicates score after each Héldon goal)[22]

No	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	3 September 2009	National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	1–0	2–0	Friendly
2.	9 February 2011	Municipal, Óbidos, Portugal	Burkina Faso	1–0	1–0
3.	26 March 2011	Estádio da Várzea, Praia, Cape Verde	Liberia	1–0	4–2	2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
4.				3–1
5.	14 October 2012	Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé, Cameroon	Cameroon	1–0	1–2	2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
6.	27 January 2013	Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa	Angola	2–1	2–1	2013 Africa Cup of Nations
7.	15 June 2013	Estádio da Várzea, Praia, Cape Verde	Sierra Leone	1–0	1–0	2014 World Cup qualification
8 .	14 August 2013	Estádio do Real SC, Queluz, Portugal	Gabon	1–0	1–1	Friendly
9.	15 October 2014	Estádio Nacional, Praia, Cape Verde	Mozambique	1–0	1–0	2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
10.	14 November 2014		Niger	2–1	3–1
11.	7 January 2015	Estádio do Bravo, Seixal, Portugal	Equatorial Guinea	1–0	1–1	Friendly
12.	10 January 2015	Léopold Sédar Senghor, Dakar, Senegal	Congo	2–2	3–2
13.	18 January 2015	Nuevo Estadio, Ebebiyín, Equatorial Guinea	Tunisia	1–1	1–1	2015 Africa Cup of Nations
14.	17 November 2015	Estádio Nacional, Praia, Cape Verde	Kenya	1–0	2–0	2018 World Cup qualification
15.				2–0

References

1. "Marítimo marcou primeiro na Choupana, mas só garantiu o empate no tempo de compensação" [Marítimo scored first at the Choupana, but only confirmed draw in injury time]. Público (in Portuguese). 26 November 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
2. "Marítimo e Nacional empatam no dérbi madeirense" [Marítimo and Nacional draw in Madeira derby]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 8 December 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
3. "Heldon at Sporting". Sporting CP. 31 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
4. "Primeira Liga: Benfica 2 Sporting Lisbon 0". FourFourTwo. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
5. "Sporting 2–0 Gil Vicente" (in Portuguese). Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. 12 April 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
6. "El caboverdiano Heldón Ramos, nuevo jugador del Córdoba CF" [Cape Verdean Heldón Ramos, new player of Córdoba CF] (in Spanish). Córdoba CF. 28 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
7. "El mejor Celta vuelve con polémica" [The best Celta return with controversy]. Marca (in Spanish). 1 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
8. "Cabo-verdiano Heldon a caminho do Rio Ave" [Cape Verdean Héldon on the way to Rio Ave] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
9. "Rio Ave arrasa em Paços de Ferreira e sobe a quinto" [Rio Ave crush Paços de Ferreira and rise to fifth] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
10. "Sporting confirma empréstimo de Heldon ao Rio Ave" [Sporting confirm Heldon loan to Rio Ave] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
11. "Sporting anuncia empréstimos de Héldon e Slavchev e venda de Sambinha" [Sporting announce loans of Héldon and Slavchev and sale of Sambinha]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 31 August 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
12. "V. Guimarães impede Marítimo de voltar ao terceiro lugar" [V. Guimarães prevent Marítimo from regaining third place]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 24 September 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
13. "هيلدون أوجستو تعاوني لمدة موسمين" [Two-season contract for Héldon Augusto] (in Arabic). Almowaten. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
14. "Updated: Low-key Malta lose 2–0 to Cape Verde". Times of Malta. 4 September 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
15. "Historic high for Cape Verde Islands". FIFA. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
16. "Cape Verde beats Liberia 4–2". A Semana. 27 March 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
17. "Nations Cup 2013: Cape Verde name squad". BBC Sport. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
18. Fottrell, Stephen (27 January 2013). "Cape Verde 2–1 Angola". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
19. "Nations Cup 2015: Cape Verde name final squad". BBC Sport. 24 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
20. "Tunisia 1–1 Cape Verde". BBC Sport. 18 January 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
21. Héldon Ramos at Soccerway
22. "Héldon – Matches". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 July 2013.

External links

• Héldon Ramos at ForaDeJogo
• Héldon Ramos at National-Football-Teams.com
• Héldon Ramos – FIFA competition record