Born in Barreiro, Portugal, on 27 May 1991, João Cancelo started out playing in his hometown before joining Benfica at a young age.

He rose through the ranks and made his first team debut in 2013/14. After one year with the seniors, he was loaned to Valencia and eventually signed for them, and then spent a season at Inter Milan before switching to another of Italy's top clubs, Juventus.

His next stop was Manchester City, who he joined in 2019 but in the 2022/23 season he was loaned to Bayern Munich and then came to FC Barcelona on a similar arrangement. He has won the league in four different countries, namely Portugal, Italy, England and Germany.

He has principally joined Barça to provide support on the right, although he has frequently shown over the years that he can play just as well on the left. In his later years at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola often used him as a central midfielder, and to great effect.