Vilhena is a product of the Feyenoord Rotterdamyouth academy, joining the club in 2003. His father is from Angola and his mother is from the Netherlands. After nine years in the club's youth ranks, he moved up to join parent-club Feyenoord in January 2012. He made his debut for the Rotterdam-based club on January 23, 2012 versus VVV Venlo. He scored his first goal for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie on 25 November 2012 against AZ Alkmaar, a game that finished 2–0. On 3 February 2013, in Feyenoord's 3–1 win against Willem II, he became the youngest player for the club to ever score at least two goals in a single Eredivisie-match; he accomplished this feat at the age of 18 years and 31 days. Vilhena became a first team regular for coach Ronald Koeman during his time at the club, featuring in a then career-high 32 league games including 29 starts in the 2013-14 Eredivisie. On May 2016 Feyenoord announced that Vilhena will not be part of the team due to his high wage demands. However a month later the club announced Vilhena had agreed to a new two-year deal, running until mid-2018. He would extend it a further two years in the final year of his initial contract, committing to the club until 2020. On April 22, 2018 he played as Feyenoord won the 2018 KNVB Cup Final 3–0 against AZ Alkmaar.
FC Krasnodar (2019–)
On 20 June 2019, Russian club FC Krasnodar announced that Vilhena signed a long-term contract with the club.
International career
Vilhena is of partial Angolan descent which made him eligible to play for either Netherlands or Angola national teams per FIFA eligibility rules. Vilhena opted to debut for Netherlands at the senior level. Vilhena has represented the Netherlands up to Under-21 level. He won the 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship with the Netherlands U-17 team and was also the tournament's joint top scorer with 3 goals. He also won the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship after scoring the fifth and final penalty in the penalty shootout against Germany. On 5 February 2013, Vilhena scored a goal in his debut for the Netherlands U-21 side. On 6 March 2013, Vilhena was called up for the preliminary squad of the Dutch national teamfor the first time, only aged 18.
