Cristiano Pereira Figueiredo (born 29 November 1990), known simply as Cristiano, is a Portuguese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Bulgarian club FC Spartak Varna.

Club career

Born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany to Portuguese parents, Cristiano started playing youth football with Académico de Viseu FC, finishing his development with S.C. Braga. He spent his first two years as a senior as the latter's third choice, also being loaned to

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese football club based in Vizela, Braga District. Founded in 1939, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal Bwin, holding home games at the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Vizela, with a capacity for 6,100 spect ...

who acted as the farm team. Cristiano was signed by Valencia CF from Spain on 24 July 2011, being assigned to the B side in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

. He appeared in just five games during his only season. In summer 2012, Cristiano returned to Portugal and Braga, being again third string with the main squad and competing with the re-created reserves in the Segunda Liga. He made his debut as a professional on 11 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–2 away draw against S.L. Benfica B. For the 2014–15 campaign, Cristiano went on loan to Académica de Coimbra of the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. He appeared in 28 games in all competitions, helping his team narrowly avoid relegation. On 5 January 2016, having been deemed surplus to requirements by manager Paulo Fonseca as several other Portuguese players, Cristiano signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Greek club Panetolikos FC. He returned to his country one year later, going on to represent

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

and

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

in the top tier. Cristiano joined

FC Hermannstadt Asociația Fotbal Club Hermannstadt (), commonly known as FC Hermannstadt, Hermannstadt or familiarly as Sibiu (), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Sibiu (german: Hermannstadt), Sibiu County, which currently competes ...

on 4 July 2019. Two years later, he agreed to a three-year deal at CFR Cluj also from the Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

. However, in January 2022 the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

signed with

FC Dinamo București Fotbal Club Dinamo București (), commonly known as Dinamo București or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest. Founded in 1948, they have spent almost List of unrelegated association f ...

still in that country and league.

International career

Cristiano won his first cap for the Portugal under-21 side on 9 February 2011, playing the second half of a 3–1

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

win over

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in Cartaxo.

Personal life

Cristiano's younger brother,

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, To ...

, was also a footballer. A defender, he played youth football at Sporting CP.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cristiano 1990 births Living people German people of Portuguese descent Citizens of Portugal through descent Portuguese footballers Footballers from Munich Association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Vizela players S.C. Braga B players S.C. Braga players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players C.F. Os Belenenses players Vitória F.C. players Segunda División B players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Super League Greece players Panetolikos F.C. players Liga I players FC Hermannstadt players CFR Cluj players FC Dinamo București players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Spartak Varna players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria