SUMMARY
- João Pedro Gonçalves Neves is a Portuguese professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Benfica and the national team.
- João Neves faced a heartbreaking tragedy as his mother, Sara Goncalves, passed away on February 19, 2024.
Joao Pedro Gonçalves Neves is a professional soccer player from Portugal who plays midfield for both the national team and Benfica, a side in the Primeira Liga. He’s recently in the headlines due to his mother’s sad demise on 19th February 2024.
After going through Benfica’s development system, Neves made an impression with the reserve team. He helped the team win the UEFA Development League in 2021–2022 and contributed significantly to Benfica’s first European championship in sixty years. Soon after, at the age of 18, he made his professional debut and received a call to the first team, helping Benfica win the league in his first season of play.
Young João Neves loses his mother to a prolonged illness. Strength & love to his family. pic.twitter.com/24UqippR04
— Moby (@Mobyhaque1) February 19, 2024
Joao Neves shares a deep bond with his family and the loss of his mother has taken the soccer community by shock as well as his teammates at Benefica. The young soccer youngster has been receiving an immense amount of affection, even from his opponents at Sporting CP, who gave Neves their full support following their match.
What happened to soccer player Joao Neves’ mother?
Early on February 19, 2024, in Tavira, soccer player João Neves’s mother passed away at the age of 50 due to cancer. After receiving cancer treatments for a few months, Sara Goncalves felt ill on Sunday. Reports state that she was admitted to the hospital and died a few hours later. João Neves, the 19-year-old midfielder, was released by Benfica so that he could spend this trying period with his family.
Joao Neves’ mother passes away earlier today due to an illness, a tough loss to suffer for an 19 year old, condolences#benfica #wearebenfica #pelobenfica #nossobenfica #joaoneves https://t.co/UqWBACIfio
— Senhor Benfica 🦅 ⚽ (@BenficaSenhor) February 19, 2024
Neves has had an incredible start to his career; even at such a young age, he has drawn the attention of several major European teams, including Manchester United and City. Grieving for a mother’s death is a difficult process that takes time to process. Joao has received encouragement from the Portugal national squad on their Instagram page. On social media, the box-to-box midfielder has not yet discussed the passing of his mother.
Joao Neves’ childhood and family
Neves was raised in Tavira and spent four seasons as a young player with his hometown team, Casa Benfica Tavira, one of Benfica’s feeder clubs. His father was a coach there. In 2012, Neves transferred to the youth program of Benfica, the club he had grown up supporting. In December 2020, Neves penned his first professional deal with Benfica.
Soccer runs in his family as his father, Pedro Neves was also a professional soccer player and won the Futebol Clube De Serpa, Pedro used to represent teams of his community and locality, Regarding Joao’s mom, she was a teacher in Tavira, Portugal. Not much information regarding his mom is available as he has chosen to keep his mom away from the media.