Tiago Santos facts for kids
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Santos with Lille in 2023
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 23 July 2002 | ||
| Place of birth | Lisbon, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.75m | ||
| Playing position | Right-back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Lille | ||
| Number | 22 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2009–2017 | Sporting CP | ||
| 2017–2018 | Oeiras | ||
| 2018–2019 | Sacavenense | ||
| 2019–2021 | Sporting CP | ||
| 2021–2022 | Estoril | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2022–2023 | Estoril | 30 | (0) |
| 2023– | Lille | 35 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2023– | Portugal U21 | 2 | (0) |
† Appearances (Goals). |
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Tiago Carvalho Santos, born on July 23, 2002, is a professional football player from Portugal. He plays as a right-back, which is a defensive position on the right side of the field. Currently, he plays for the club Lille in Ligue 1, which is the top football league in France.
Tiago Santos' Football Journey
Playing for Estoril
Tiago Santos spent most of his younger years training at the Sporting CP football academy. He also spent some time at the academies of Oeiras and Sacavenense. In 2021, he joined the Under-23 team of Estoril.
On July 9, 2022, Tiago was moved up to Estoril's main team for the 2022–23 season. He made his first professional appearance on August 19, 2022. This was in a game against Rio Ave in the Primeira Liga, Portugal's top league. He even helped set up the first goal of the match!
Tiago was named the Young Player of the Month in the Primeira Liga for April 2023. By the end of the 2022–23 season, he had played in 30 league games for Estoril. He also helped his team score 5 goals by assisting his teammates.
During the summer of 2023, another big Portuguese club, Benfica, wanted to sign Tiago. Estoril even accepted their offer. However, his old club, Sporting CP, had a special rule in his contract. This rule meant that if he was sold to Benfica or Porto, Sporting CP would get a large amount of money. Because of this rule, the move to Benfica did not happen.
Moving to Lille
On July 5, 2023, Tiago Santos signed a five-year contract with Lille, a club in France's top league, Ligue 1. Lille paid about €6.5 million to bring him to their team.
He played his first game for Lille on August 11, starting in a 1–1 draw against Nice. This was the first match of the 2023–24 Ligue 1 season. Just thirteen days later, Tiago played in his first European competition game. This was a UEFA Europa Conference League match against HNK Rijeka, which Lille won 2–1.
On November 26, 2023, Tiago scored his first professional goal. He shot the ball from outside the penalty box in a league game against Olympique Lyonnais, helping Lille win 2–0.
Playing for Portugal
Tiago Santos was born in Portugal, and his father is from Angola. He started playing for the Portugal Under-21s on September 8, 2023. He played in a qualifying match for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship against Andorra, which Portugal won 3–0.
In September 2024, Tiago was called up to the main Portugal national team for the first time. This was for the Nations League games against Croatia and Scotland.
