Pedro Assis

Pedro Assis is a Portuguese sport psychologist and clinical psychologist with extensive experience across academy and first-team football environments, combining performance support with education and coach-development work. He is currently Head of Sport Psychology at FC Famalicão (November 2024–present), leading psychological support within a professional club setting and helping align mental performance work with the daily demands of training, competition, and player development.

Prior to Famalicão, Assis spent more than a decade within FC Porto, progressing through multiple roles across the academy and residence pathway before supporting the club’s broader performance environment. He worked as Sport Psychologist at FC Porto (July 2022–August 2024) and previously held age-group and pathway positions including U16(August 2020–June 2021), U15 (July 2021–June 2022 and July 2017–June 2018), U17 (July 2018–June 2019), and Players’ Residence / Casa do Dragão (July 2019–August 2020). Across these roles, his work has been embedded in the weekly rhythm of academy football—supporting players through performance pressure, selection and deselection, identity development, transitions between phases, and the broader wellbeing challenges that come with elite environments.

Alongside his applied football practice, Assis is active in higher education and professional training. He serves as a Professor at Instituto CRIAP (January 2024–present) and Universidade Europeia (February 2023–present), and is a long-standing Formador (educator/tutor) for multiple national and regional bodies, including the Portuguese Psychologists’ Association (Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses) (2020–present), the Porto FA (2022–present), the Vila Real FA (2019–present), the Aveiro FA (2018–present), and the Confederação do Desporto de Portugal (2015–present). In parallel, he maintains clinical practice as a clinical psychologist in Porto, working with clinics including Clínica ORL Dr. Eurico de Almeida (January 2024–present) and DSB Clinic (November 2023–present), strengthening the link between clinical mental health expertise and performance psychology in sport.

His postgraduate training includes a Postgraduate Degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from ISPA – Instituto Universitário (2014–2015) and a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology from ESNECA Business School (2021–2023). His academic institution is listed as Universidade Fernando Pessoa, supporting his professional identity as a practitioner who operates across performance, development, and education settings.