Jose Carlos Marafona

José Carlos Coentrao Marafona is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a goalkeeper, currently for the club Braga. He was born on 8 May 1987 in Vila do Conde, Portugal and is a skilful goalkeeper who has a wonderful reach.

Background

Marafona started his football journey with the youth system of Varzim SC in 2001 at the age of 14. He appeared in the LigaPro for Varzim but could only manage five appearances in his first two seasons in the LigaPro.

He became the first choice goalkeeper after the initial two seasons and has conceded 76 goals in 57 appearances and has gone 14 matches without conceding any goal in the LigaPro for Varzim.

Debut

He made his international debut for Portugal on 28 March 2017 in an international friendly against Sweden in Funchal which Sweden won by 2-3.

Club Career

In 2010, he moved to C.S. Maritimo before eventually being loaned over to Desportivo Alves. He had a successful stint with Alves conceding 55 goals in 57 appearances and going 20 matches without conceding a goal.

Marafona moved to Moreirense FC in 2013 and made his Primeira Liga debut the next year against C.D. Nacional in which he kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win. He has made the most number of appearances for Moreirense in his career. In the 64 appearances he has made, he has conceded 63 goals and gone 26 matches without conceding a goal.

The next year he moved to F.C. Pacos de Ferreira but eventually moved to S.C. Braga a year later due to a transfer clause in his contract with Ferreira. He played 6 matches without conceding a goal and conceded 22 goals in 19 appearances for Ferreira.

He made 49 appearances for his new club Braga and conceded 59 goals. He also went without conceding any goal in 15 matches for Braga.

He was out of the majority of the 2017-2018 season due to an injury.