João Cancelo Opens Up About Two Life-Altering Incidents

Portuguese defender João Cancelo recently shared two profoundly traumatic experiences that have shaped his life during an interview on SIC's Alta Definição program. He recounted the tragic death of his mother in an accident and a terrifying home invasion.

“They had their backs to me, and I felt like I had a chance to do something. Today, I regret doing it, but I managed to punch him in the back of the head, in the neck. He fell forward, and the knife also landed on the ground. I managed to kick the knife away, but suddenly another person appeared behind me and hit me on the head with an iron bar. This scar I have here is a lasting consequence of that; I needed eight stitches and lost consciousness. I fainted. And then, when I woke up… I had a knife pressed against my throat.”

The defender, currently with the Portuguese national team preparing for their World Cup campaign in the USA, Mexico, and Canada, where they face DR Congo in four days, spent the latter half of the season on loan at Barcelona. However, after the 2026 World Cup, he is set to return to Al-Hilal. The Portuguese international has already expressed his desire to leave the Saudi giants and sign permanently with the Catalan club. He also spoke about the incident in 2013 when his mother died in a severe road accident. João Cancelo was just 18 years old at the time.

“It was a matter of milliseconds when my life changed forever. I remember my mother’s last scream and my eight-year-old brother crying. I tried to lift the car to get my mother out, but I couldn’t. Lifting a car is impossible.”