Daniel Ricardo da Silva Soares (born 30 January 1982), commonly known as Dani, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for F.C. Maia as a midfielder.

Club career

Portugal

Dani started playing football for F.C. Vizela, located near his birthcity of

Felgueiras Felgueiras () is a municipality in Porto District, Portugal. The current mayor is Nuno Fonseca. There are two cities located in the municipality: Felgueiras (city status received on 13 July 1990) and Lixa. The population in 2011 was 58,065, in ...

. He remained 14 years with the club his youth spell accounted for, playing his first four seasons as a senior in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

, the latter ending in league conquest and promotion to the second level. For the 2006–07 campaign, Dani moved to 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, ...

with F.C. Paços de Ferreira, making his debut in the competition on 27 August 2006 in a 1–2 away loss against S.C. Braga (90 minutes played). He started in all his league appearances during his short tenure.

Cluj

During the 2007 winter transfer window, Dani signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with CFR Cluj in Romania. He scored his first Liga I goal more than one year later, in a 1–1 draw at FC Unirea Urziceni. Dani finished his first full season with 29 games as the team won the national championship, going on to be an important midfield unit in the conquest of seven major titles, including three consecutive Romanian Cups.

Greece

On 31 August 2010, Dani agreed to a two-year deal at Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. of the

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

. He made his competitive debut for his new club on 11 September, in a 1–1 away draw to

Atromitos FC Atromitos Football Club (, ''PAE APS Atromitos Athinon''), also simply known as Atromitos (literally meaning "Fearless"), is a Greek professional football club based in Peristeri, Athens, that plays in the Super League. It was founded in 1923 a ...

. He scored his first league goal in the 19th round of the season, opening the score against AEK Athens F.C. in an eventual 2–0 win for the hosts. In late July 2011, Dani joined fellow league side Skoda Xanthi FC.

Honours

Vizela * Portuguese Second Division: 2004–05 CFR Cluj * Liga I: 2007–08, 2009–10 *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dani 1982 births Living people People from Felgueiras Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Vizela players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Vitória F.C. players F.C. Lixa players Liga I players CFR Cluj players Super League Greece players Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players Xanthi F.C. players F.C. Maia players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Footballers from Porto District