Evandro Brandão

Evandro Elmer de Carvalho Brandão (born 7 May 1991) is an Angolan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga 1 club RANS Nusantara.

England
Brandão was born in Luanda, Angola, but spent the first years of his life in Portugal before moving to England at the age of 9. He began his football career at Blackburn Rovers, before joining Walsall in 2003.

After three years with Walsall, Brandão signed for Manchester United on 21 October 2006, after impressing assistant manager Carlos Queiroz while on trial at the 2006 Under-17 Nike Cup. He had to wait five months to make his debut for the under-18s, but played four of their last five games as the side finished fourth in the 2006–07 Premier Academy League, being offered a trainee contract in July 2007.

The following season, Brandão scored four goals in 18 appearances for the under-18 team, adding four in 15 matches the year after. He also made his debut for the reserves in 2008–09, coming on as a 69th-minute substitute for Magnus Wolff Eikrem in a Manchester Senior Cup game away to Bury. However, he was unable to make any more of an impression at the club, and was released in June 2009.

Benfica
Brandão joined Braga in summer 2009 but, five months later, left to sign a two-and-a-half-year contract with Benfica.

After spending a year in the Benfica academy, he went out on loan twice in 2010–11, first to Fátima (Segunda Liga) and then to Gondomar (third division), for whom he netted ten times in 12 games.

Hungary
After failing to break into the Benfica first team, Brandão moved to Hungarian club Videoton in July 2011, coached by his former Portugal under-16 manager Paulo Sousa. He scored his only Nemzeti Bajnokság I goal for the side on 20 August, contributing to a 4–1 home win against Pécs.

Later career
On 30 August 2012, Brandão signed with Olhanense in the Portuguese top flight, on loan. He scored his only goal in the competition on 15 December to help to a 2–2 home draw with Gil Vicente, as his team went on to finish as the first above the relegation zone.

Subsequently, Brandão represented in quick succession Tondela, Libolo, Kabuscorp – both from the Angolan Girabola – and Benfica e Castelo Branco, totalling only eight goals. On 12 July 2016, he agreed to a deal at Fafe from the Portuguese second tier.

Brandão scored his first hat-trick at the professional level on 15 January 2017, in a 4–1 victory over Braga B at the Parque Municipal dos Desportos de Fafe. In June, following relegation, he signed for Leixões also of the second division.

On 10 September 2019, Brandão joined Israeli Liga Leumit club Maccabi Petah Tikva. He returned to Portugal and its division two in the 2021 January transfer window, on a one-and-a-half-year contract at Vilafranquense.

In January 2022, Brandão moved to the Liga 3 with Alverca. In the 2023 off-season, both he and his teammate Tavinho signed with RANS Nusantara in the Indonesian Liga 1.

International career
At youth level, Brandão earned 24 caps for Portugal. He switched allegiance to Angola as a senior, making his debut on 13 August 2014 by playing the last four minutes of a 0–0 friendly draw against Botswana.

International goals

 * Scores and results list Angola's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Brandão goal.

Honours
Videoton
 * Ligakupa: 2011–12
 * Szuperkupa: 2011

Libolo
 * Girabola: 2014, 2015

Maccabi Petah Tikva
 * Liga Leumit: 2019–20