Diogo de Almeida Santos (born 13 November 1984) 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 for

F.C. Felgueiras 1932 Futebol Club de Felgueiras 1932 is an association football club based in Felgueiras, Porto District, Portugal founded in 2006 after F.C. Felgueiras ended in 2005 due to financial problems. They got promoted to play in the Liga 3 (Portugal), Li ...

as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Born in

Vila Franca de Xira Vila Franca de Xira () is a city and municipality in the Lisbon District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 137,659, in an area of 318.19 km2. Situated on both banks of the Tagus River, 32 km north-east of the Portuguese capital L ...

Lisbon District Lisbon District ( pt, Distrito de Lisboa, ) is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the cur ...

, Santos started his senior career with

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Est ...

, spending his first five seasons 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 ...

and scoring a career-best five goals in his last. In the 2008 off-season he signed with

Gil Vicente F.C. Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

of the Segunda Liga, making his debut in the competition on 24 August in a 1–1 away draw against his former club. Santos returned to the third tier in January 2010, joining Arouca and helping to promotion in his first year. In 2011–12 he contributed ten appearances and one goal during the first half of the campaign, but finished it with Oliveirense. On 19 June 2013, Santos moved abroad after agreeing to a two-year contract at

SR Brașov Asociația Club Sportiv SR Municipal Brașov (), commonly known as SR Brașov or simply Brașov, is a Romanian football club based in the city of Brașov, Brașov County, which competes in the Liga III. The team was created in 2017 by the suppo ...

in 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 ...

. After featuring sparingly during his spell, he returned to Portugal and its division two by signing a one-year deal with

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

. Santos joined

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

in June 2016, reuniting with manager Daniel Ramos in the process. In 2017–18, he scored three times from 26 appearances as the club returned 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, ...

after a 15-year absence. Santos played his first match in the Portuguese top flight on 12 August 2018 at the age of 33 years and nine months, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away loss to

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

. In the following

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, he returned to the second division with Académico Viseu FC. On 27 July 2021, Santos moved to

Personal life

In June 2022, Portugal's

Supreme Court of Justice A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

allowed Santos to proceed in a lawsuit against American video game company

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

for the alleged unauthorised use of his name and image in their ''FIFA'' series. Citing

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

50 million deal with the company, he requested at least

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

53,900. Italy's ''

La Gazzetta dello Sport ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' (; "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any kind in Italy (in 2018). History and profile ''La ...

'' wrote that he was the first footballer to take EA to court, although

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

and

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

's case against the company had been dismissed; the newspaper also stated that the use of all footballers' images was legitimate due to a deal with the FIFPro trade union.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Diogo 1984 births Living people People from Vila Franca de Xira Sportspeople from Lisbon District Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players U.D. Oliveirense players Gil Vicente F.C. players F.C. Arouca players F.C. Famalicão players C.D. Santa Clara players Académico de Viseu F.C. players F.C. Felgueiras 1932 players Liga I players Liga II players FC Brașov (1936) players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania