Joshua Nascimento
Brazilian footballer (born 1996)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joshua Seixas Arantes do Nascimento (born 28 September 1996) is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a forward. He is a son of Pelé.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joshua Seixas Arantes do Nascimento[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 28 September 1996 | ||
| Place of birth | São Paulo, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2011–2013 | Florida Rush | ||
| 2013–2015 | Santos | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2018 | Tampa Spartans | 1 | (0) |
Early and personal life
Nascimento was born to Brazilian gospel singer Assíria Seixas Lemos and Brazilian football legend Pelé.[2] He has a twin sister named Celeste.[2]
On 16 September 2023, he married businesswoman Bárbara Meireles.[3] A year later, in September 2024, the pair announced they were expecting a daughter, Cecília.[4]
Footballing career
Early career
At the age of ten, he trained with Santos, the club where his father made his name, for the first time.[5] He moved to the United States at the age of twelve, and joined the academy side Florida Rush three years later.[6][7]
He returned to Brazil in 2013, joining Santos on a permanent deal.[8][9] While at Santos, he refused to wear his father's famous number 10 shirt, and attempted to ignore comparisons between himself and his father, stating "he was him and I am me."[10] He made his debut for the Santos under-20 side in October 2014.[11]
Collegiate soccer
Having suffered numerous injuries while at Santos, Nascimento returned to the United States to enroll at the University of Tampa in 2015.[7] However, his time in Tampa was also marred by injury, and he was redshirted in his first season with the university's soccer team, the Tampa Spartans.[12] He made one appearance in 2016, but this would be his only playing time until his graduation in 2018.[12][13]
Later life
Having been raised mostly in the United States, he decided to remain there following his decision not to pursue a career in professional football, and he was named as a representative for Santos in North America in 2020.[14] He joined the SIMA Pre-Academy, a soccer academy for children, in 2021.[13] He has also worked as a fitness instructor and soccer coach in soccer academies across Orlando, as well as completing an internship in the Santos academy physiology department.[13]
Having graduated university with a Bachelor of Science in human performance and exercise physiology, Nascimento had an internship with Belgian football team Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in March 2022, in the hope of working as a physical trainer.[15][16]
He worked as a physical trainer at the Soccer Institute of the Montverde Academy,[16] before joining Major League Soccer club FC Dallas as the Head of Performance for their academy.[17]