Hugo Eduardo dos Santos Morais (born 12 February 1978) is a Portuguese former 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 played as a central midfielder.

Club career

Morais was born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. After finishing his development at local

C.F. Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela da Amadora (), sometimes just Estrela, is a Portuguese sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. It's the successor of Clube de Futebol Estrela da Amadora, founded in 1932 and extinct in ...

's youth system, he played for a series of clubs in the lower leagues. In 1999 he joined

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. ...

, but his spell was very unsuccessful as he only appeared in six

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, ...

games, also being loaned two times and very often demoted to the reserves, finally being released in June 2004. Subsequently, Morais played one year for

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

and

F.C. Barreirense Futebol Clube Barreirense is a Portuguese sports club founded on 11 April 1911. The main sports are football and basketball. In both sports, the club has represented Portugal in European competitions. In basketball, the club won 2 national champ ...

in the second division, after which he was left out of work, even having to resort to taking an intensive course for unemployed players arranged by the Portuguese Footballers Association. He was then "rescued" by

Leixões SC The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club The Port of Leixões ( pt, P ...

, scoring three goals in 30 matches as the

Matosinhos Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal () is a city and a municipality in the northern Porto district of Portugal, bordered in the south by the city of Porto (8 km from the city centre). The population in 2011 was 175,478, and covered an area of approx ...

team returned to the top flight after a lengthy absence. In the 2009–10 season, Morais netted seven times – all through penalty kicks– whilst only missing one league game, but Leixões dropped down to the second level. On 21 June 2010, aged 32, he signed a two-year contract with Académica de Coimbra. In the summer of 2012, Morais returned to former club

C.F. União Clube de Futebol União, commonly known as União or União da Madeira, was a Portuguese association football, football club based in Funchal, Madeira, notable for its six appearances in the Portuguese top-flight Primeira Liga, between the 1989� ...

(he had already played there in 2003–04 on loan from

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

n neighbours Marítimo), moving to the second tier side on a free transfer.

Honours

Leixões * Segunda Liga: 2006–07 Académica * Taça de Portugal: 2011–12

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morais, Hugo 1978 births Living people Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Casa Pia A.C. players S.U. Sintrense players C.S. Marítimo players C.F. União players C.D. Aves players F.C. Barreirense players Leixões S.C. players Académica de Coimbra (football) players