Nélson Oliveira

Club career

Born in Barcelos, Oliveira finished his youth career at Benfica having arrived at age 15 from Braga, and was a prolific scorer for both clubs. He made his first-team debut in a 2008–09 pre-season friendly against Estoril, courtesy of manager Quique Flores, and was even called to a UEFA Cup match against Napoli, but eventually returned to the juniors.

Loans in Portugal

The same happened to Oliveira in 2009–10. However, in January 2010, he made his professional – and first division – debuts, being loaned until June to Rio Ave; his first game came on 7 February, as he played the last 10 minutes of the 2–0 home win against Leixões.

Oliveira's loan was initially extended for the entirety of the 2010–11 season but, on 12 August 2010, he moved to Paços de Ferreira, in the same predicament. He scored on his debut on 12 September, a 1–1 draw at Marítimo and, the following month, helped Paços come from behind at Naval (2–1) by netting the winning goal from a direct free kick.

On 14 October 2011, Oliveira made his official debut for Benfica, playing 45 minutes in a 2–0 away win against Portimonense for the season's Portuguese Cup. On 18 January of the following year, he played the entire game against Santa Clara for the League Cup group stage, and scored in a 2–0 home win; the following month, for the same competition – the Portuguese Football Federation ruled that, for the tournament, at least two national players would have to appear in a game for 45 minutes – he opened the score against Marítimo (3–0, home).

On 6 March 2012, Oliveira made his Champions League debut, playing only ten minutes but scoring the final goal in a 2–0 home win against Zenit Saint Petersburg, with Benfica qualifying to the last-eight 4–3 on aggregate.

Deportivo La Coruña (loan)

On 31 July, he moved to Deportivo de La Coruña in Spain in a season-long loan, alongside several compatriots.

On 20 August, in the La Liga opener against Osasuna, Oliveira scored his first goal for the Galicians, netting from a counter-attack in the 90th minute to make it 2–0 for the hosts. On 19 May 2013, he found himself in controversy after shushing the Ultras after his goal against Espanyol. He later apologized for his actions. During his spell, he acted as backup to veteran Riki.

Stade Rennais (loan)

On 26 July 2013, Oliveira was loaned to Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais on a season-long move, with the French having the option to make the deal permanent afterwards. He scored his first goal in only his second appearance, but in a 1–2 loss at Nice.

Oliveira netted a brace for Rennes on 24 August 2013, as they recorded a 2–1 away win against Evian. He again netted a brace, this time against Toulouse in a 5–0 win on 26 October 2013. A week later he scored his seventh goal of the season in a 1–1 draw away to Marseille. After a four month goal drought, he found the net again against Toulouse in a 3–2 lost on 15 March 2014. He took part of the 2014 Coupe de France Final as he entered as a substitute in Rennes 2–0 loss to Guingamp.

Swansea City (loan)

After receiving rarely any playing time, on 23 December 2014, Benfica announced that they had loaned Oliveira to Premier League side Swansea City until the end of the season. He was brought in to replace Wilfried Bony, who was due to miss all of Swansea's January matches due to commitments with the Ivory Coast national team at the Africa Cup of Nations. He made his debut on 10 January, replacing Gylfi Sigurðsson for the last 16 minutes of a 1–1 draw against West Ham United at the Liberty Stadium. A week later, with Bony having been sold to Manchester City, Oliveira started alongside Bafétimbi Gomis in a 0–5 defeat to league leaders Chelsea. On 25 April 2015, Oliveira scored his first goal for Swansea, equalising as they came from behind to win 3–2 away at Newcastle United.

Nottingham Forest (loan)

On 4 September 2015, Oliveira returned to the United Kingdom, joining Nottingham Forest of the Football League Championship on loan for the remainder of the 2015–16 season. He made his debut eight days later away to Queens Park Rangers, replacing Kyle Ebecilio in the 69th minute, and scored the winning goal as they came from behind to triumph 2–1 at Loftus Road. He had a run of games in the first team but did not score again until 6 November, netting the only goal of the game against Forest's local rivals Derby County. He added to his goal tally two games later by scoring a brace against Reading. The first was a curled strike from 20 yards after a quick counterattack and the second, a volley from close range. He took his goal tally to five after firing a low curling shot after a deft touch against MK Dons. A week later, he scored against Leeds United. He finished the season as the team's highest goalscorer with nine goals.

Norwich City

On 30 August 2016, Oliveira once again returned to the United Kingdom, joining Norwich City after signing a four-year deal with the club. He became Norwich's fifth signing of the transfer window, signing for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for Norwich in an EFL Cup tie (2–2) against Leeds United on 25 October 2016. He scored his first league goal for Norwich on 3 December 2016, against Brentford in a 5–0 win at Carrow Road. In the next four games, he found the net on three occasions against Barnsley, Aston Villa and Reading respectively. On 2 January 2017, he scored his first professional hat-trick in 3–0 win against Derby County.

Youth

Oliveira represented the Portuguese under-17 team in the qualification for the 2008 UEFA European Championship. In 2009 he was named in the squad for the European Under-19 Championship qualifying tournament, but the country failed to ensure a place in the finals in Ukraine; the following year, in the same category, he represented the nation at European Championship, scoring one goal in the 2–0 win against Italy.

On 22 May 2011 Oliveira was selected by the under-20s for the 2011 Toulon Tournament, where he played three matches and netted once. He also helped the team finish second in that year's FIFA World Cup held in Colombia, scoring four goals – including one in the final against Brazil, a 2–3 extra time loss – and providing two assists. He received the Man of the match award twice in addition to the Silver Ball for the second best player in the tournament.

Oliveira made his debut for the under-21 team on 6 October 2011, in a Euro 2013 qualification match against Poland. On 11 November, for the same competition, he scored a brace against Moldova (5–0 home win).

Senior team

On 24 February 2012, Oliveira was called up for the first time to the senior team, for a friendly match with Poland five days later. He replaced Nani for the last ten minutes of the 0–0 draw in Warsaw, and eventually made it to the list of 23 for UEFA Euro 2012.

Oliveira played 20 minutes in the group stage opener against Germany after coming on for Hélder Postiga, in an eventual 0–1 loss. He made three other substitute appearances in the tournament, in an eventual semi-final exit.

In Portugal's next game after Euro 2012, Oliveira scored his first international goal, in a 2–0 win against Panama.

Club

International

Club

International

Individual

Orders