Samuel Soares

Samuel Jumpe Soares (born 15 June 2002) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Primeira Liga club Benfica.

Benfica
Born in Amadora, Soares began his youth career with hometown club União de Tires, before moving to his boyhood club Benfica's youth academy in 2013. He signed a professional contract with the club on 6 October 2022, tying him to the club until 2027.

Soares played a major role in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League, where Benfica U19 topped their group against Dynamo Kyiv, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. In the final, Benfica defeated Red Bull Salzburg 6–0 to help Benfica win their first Youth League title, and their first title in European football since the 1961–62 European Cup. He made his professional debut with Benfica B in a 1–1 LigaPro draw to Académico de Viseu on 6 August 2022. On 24 August, Soares kept a clean sheet on Benfica's 1–0 against Peñarol at the 2022 Under-20 Intercontinental Cup.

He made his professional debut with Benfica B in a 5–0 LigaPro win against Nacional on 9 August 2021. In the 2022–23 season, he began training with the first team, and eventually became the club's second choice goalkeeper. He earned a league medal in the 2022–23 campaign, replacing first-choice Odysseas Vlachodimos in the 88th minute of a 3–0 home win over Santa Clara on 27 May. After long-time starting goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos made a series of mistakes in the start of the 2023–24 season, and following a dispute with Benfica manager Roger Schmidt, Schmidt dropped him in favour of Soares, who went on to start three consecutive games, keeping two clean sheets, before losing his place to Anatoliy Trubin, who had recently signed for the club.

International career
Born in Portugal, Soares is of Bissau-Guinean descent. He represented Portugal at under-15, under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-20 levels, for a total of 24 caps. On 4 June 2022, Soares made his under-21 debut, playing the entire 5–1 win over Belarus in the 2023 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.

In June 2023, Soares took part in the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Portugal were eliminated from the tournament, on 2 July, after a 1–0 loss to England in the quarter-finals.

Honours
Benfica Youth Benfica Individual
 * UEFA Youth League: 2021–22
 * Under-20 Intercontinental Cup: 2022
 * Primeira Liga: 2022–23
 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2023


 * Liga Portugal 2 Goalkeeper of the Month: October/November 2022