Sebastião de Freitas Couto Júnior, better known as Sebá (born June 8, 1992) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays mainly as a winger for Super League Greece 2 club Panionios.

Sebá
Personal information
Full name Sebastião de Freitas Couto Júnior
Date of birth (1992-06-08) June 8, 1992 (age 32)
Place of birth Salvador, Brazil
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Winger/Forward
Team information
Current team
Panionios
Number 92
Youth career
2008–2010 Cruzeiro
2008Itaúna (loan)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2013 Cruzeiro 15 (9)
2012Nacional-MG (loan) 8 (1)
2012–2013Porto B (loan) 25 (2)
2012–2013Porto (loan) 4 (0)
2013–2015 Estoril 52 (8)
2015–2019 Olympiacos 61 (6)
2018Chongqing Lifan (loan) 12 (3)
2019–2022 Al-Shabab 56 (18)
2022–2023 Ionikos 22 (2)
2023–2024 Al-Salmiya 0 (0)
2024– Panionios 0 (0)
International career
2011 Brazil U20 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13 May 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 21, 2011

Career

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Born in Salvador, Bahia, Sebá started his career in the Brazilian team Cruzeiro, but he moved to Dragões FC Porto (mainly reserve team). Sebá is a midfielder who can play in all fronts of the attack, although he is more efficient on one side. With good ball striking and an advanced high speed, the Brazilian has yet to win on a consistent whole match and after a couple of matches in the Primeira Liga considered a new Hulk in power. Faced with increased competition, FC Porto however decided not to activate the clause allowing him to finally join the player and Estoril did not miss the opportunity. Playing in the UEFA Europa League just months after being promoted to the first division, the Lusitanian club take advantage of its close relationship with the Brazilian company Traffic (Agency of players) that owns part of the rights of the player, to complete his transfer.[1]

On 19 August 2015, Olympiakos confirmed the signing of Brazilian forward Sebá as the Greek champion tries boosted its squad ahead of the start of the new season. Sebá signed a four-year contract for a reported fee of €1.7 million and joined the Piraeus club from Portuguese side Estoril. The 23-year-old forward followed the footsteps of his fellow Portuguese and former manager at Estoril, Marco Silva, who took over as Olympiakos coach in the summer .[2] On 5 December 2015, he scored his first goal with a low finish after taking the rebound from Jimmy Durmaz shot in the Superleague Greece in a 4-3 away victory against Panthrakikos.[3] On 7 January 2016, he scored in a 4–1 away win against Chania for the Greek Cup. He was named man of the match.[4] On summer of 2016, Seba could be on the move as several clubs from Brazil have expressed an interest for his services. Moreover, he attracted interest from Mexican clubs in the past which is expected to be revived until the end of the window. Olympiakos seek for a fee in the region of €2 million for Seba and if an offer of that region comes in, then the Greek giants will accept the bid and the transfer will go through. Eventually he stayed in the club, as Paulo Bento is attracted from his abilities.

On 11 September 2016, he scored his first goal for the 2016–2017 season in a 6–1 home win against Veria. Despite his mediocre performance in the Superleague Greece, he scored repeatedly in UEFA Europa League.[5] On mid April, reports in Turkey insist that Galatasaray will make a move to sign Olympiakos winger over the summer transfer window. Galatasaray has rubbished the rumours linking them with Seba, however reports in Turkey continue to link the Brazilian winger with Galatasaray. On 25 April 2017, Olympiakos winger faced a three-game suspension following his kick on Sergio Araujo in the semi-final of the Greek Cup against AEK. Seba is being accused for misconduct after his decision to kick AEK winger.[6] He finished the 2016-17 season having three goals and 10 assists (1st in the League) and had a vital role in his club's seventh consecutive League title.

In contrary to an excellent 2016-17 season, Sebá didn't score a goal in 20 appearances in the first half of the 2017-18 season, and as he has hardly managed to be in Oscar García's choices, it is not excluded his retirement from the club as the winter transfer window is still open to Turkey, Russia and China. [7]

On 3 July 2018, Sebá joined Chinese Super League side Chongqing Lifan, on loan from Olympiakos.[8] After six months he returned to Olympiakos and during the winter transfer period he signed a 3+12-year contract with Al-Shabab FC for an undisclosed fee.[9]

Career statistics

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As of 11 April 2019[10][11]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Brazil League Cup League Cup South America Total
Cruzeiro 2010 Série A 3 0 3 0
2011 7 0 7 0
Total 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
Nacional-MG 2012 Campeonato Mineiro 8 1 8 1
Total 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1
Portugal League Cup League Cup Europe Total
FC Porto B 2012–13 Segunda Liga 25 2 25 2
Porto 2012-13 Primeira Liga 4 0 2 0 6 0
Total 29 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 31 2
Estoril 2013-14 Primeira Liga 18 4 4 2 2 0 9 2 33 8
2014-15 Primeira Liga 33 4 3 1 6 0 42 5
2015-16 Primeira Liga 1 0 1 0
Total 52 8 4 2 5 1 15 2 76 13
Greece League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Olympiacos 2015–16 Super League Greece 19 2 5 2 8 0 32 4
2016–17 Supeleague Greece 26 3 5 0 12 4 43 7
2017–18 Superleague Greece 13 0 2 0 7 0 22 0
Total 58 5 12 2 0 0 27 4 97 11
Chongqing Dangdai 2018 Chinese Super League 12 3 0 0 - - 12 3
Al-Shabab 2018-19 Saudi Professional League 9 3 1 0 - - 10 3
Career Total 177 22 17 4 7 1 42 6 243 33

Honours

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Club

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Porto

Olympiacos

Individual

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References

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  1. ^ "Seba, le nouveau talent brésilien sur les traces d'Hulk". www.footmercato.net. 25 November 2013.
  2. ^ "Olympiakos unveils Da Costa and Seba as new signings". www.ekathimerini.com. 19 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Πανθρακικός - Ολυμπιακός 3-4". www.contra.gr. 5 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Τυπική διαδικασία η ρεβάνς, 4-1 ο Ολυμπιακός τα Χανιά στα Περιβόλια". He scored 2 goals against Astana on the Europa League www.sport24.gr. 7 January 2016.
  5. ^ "ΤΟ... ΚΑΡΦΩΣΕ Ο ΣΕΜΠΑ! ΑΣΤΑΝΑ - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΟΣ 1-1!". olympiacos-blog.blogspot.com. 3 November 2016.
  6. ^ "Χωρίς Σεμπά κόντρα στην ΑΕΚ". www.sport24.gr. 25 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Ολυμπιακός: Φεύγει… ο Σεμπά!". www.onsports.gr. 11 February 2018.
  8. ^ 重庆队官宣希腊劲旅前锋加盟 曾是保罗本托爱将 at sports.sohu.com 2018-07-03 Retrieved 2018-07-03
  9. ^ Τέλος ο Σεμπά από τον Ολυμπιακό, πήγε στη Σαουδική Αραβία at www.sdna.gr Retrieved 2019-01-14
  10. ^ "Sebastião de Freitas Couto Júnior". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  11. ^ "Sebastião de Freitas Couto Júnior". superleaguegreece.net. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
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