Herculano Nabian
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Herculano Bucancil Nabian | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 25 January 2004 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Bissau, Guinea-Bissau | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team |
Pontedera (on loan from Empoli) | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 25 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2015 | Recreios Algueirão | ||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Belenenses | ||||||||||||||||
| 2018–2020 | Vitória Guimarães | ||||||||||||||||
| 2022– | → Empoli (loan) | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2023 | Vitória Guimarães B | 35 | (10) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2023 | Vitória Guimarães | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | → Empoli (loan) | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023– | Empoli | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024–2025 | → União de Leiria (loan) | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | → Mérida (loan) | 11 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025– | → Pontedera (loan) | 26 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Portugal U15 | 5 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Portugal U16 | 6 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | Portugal U17 | 9 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Portugal U18 | 11 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2023 | Portugal U19 | 13 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Portugal U20 | 5 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 3 March 2026 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 22:50, 19 November 2023 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Herculano Bucancil Nabian (born 25 January 2004) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Italian Serie C Group B club Pontedera on loan from Empoli. Born in Guinea-Bissau, he is a former youth international for Portugal.
Born in Bissau, Nabian was formed at C.F. Os Belenenses before joining Vitória de Guimarães in 2018. His tally of 51 goals in two years in their youth team earned attention from foreign teams, and in July 2020, he signed his first professional contract of three years with the option of one more, and a buyout clause of €60 million.[1][2]
In the 2020–21 season, he took part with the reserve team in the third tier, scoring 7 goals in 21 games. This included a hat-trick on 3 April in a 5–1 win over the second team of Rio Ave FC.[3] On 26 July 2021, he made his first-team debut in the first round of the Taça da Liga in a 4–1 home win over Leixões S.C. as an 85th-minute substitute; he assisted the final goal by Maga.[4] His Primeira Liga bow came on 8 August again as a late replacement at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, in a 1–0 loss to Portimonense SC.[5]
On 6 August 2022, Nabian joined Serie A club Empoli on loan.[6] The Italian side paid a €150.000 loan fee and an option-to-buy was set at €450.000 plus €600.000 in future add-ons.[7] In April 2023, Empoli decided to trigger the buy-clause, with Nabian signing a four-year contract.[8]
On 2 September 2024, Nabian joined União de Leiria on loan.[9] On 31 January 2025, Nabian moved on loan to Mérida in the Spanish third tier, with an option to buy.[10]