Hélder Bruno Macedo Sousa (born 13 October 1977) 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 ...

who played as a

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 Matosinhos, Sousa started his career with amateurs Padroense F.C. in 1997. In his country, in which he competed almost exclusively in the second and third divisions, he also represented

C.D. Trofense Clube Desportivo Trofense (), commonly known as Trofense, is a Portuguese football club based in Trofa, Portugal. Founded in 1930, it plays in Segunda Liga, holding home games at '' Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense'', with a capacity of 5,0 ...

(two spells),

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

's reserves, A.D. Ovarense,

Gondomar SC Gondomar Sport Club is a Portuguese football club based in Gondomar, Porto District. Founded on 1 May 1921, it currently plays in the fourth-tier Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio de São Miguel'', with a capacity of 2.4 ...

, C.D. Feirense and

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese Association football, 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 cap ...

. On 15 September 2002, whilst with Braga, he made his only Primeira Liga appearance, which consisted of 20 minutes as a starter in a 2–0 away loss against Varzim SC. In the summer of 2010, aged nearly 33, Sousa moved abroad for the first time, joining

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

club

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia ( el, Ολυμπιακός Λευκωσίας, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a football club based in Nicosia, Cyprus and competes in the Cypriot First Division. The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the C ...

. On 10 January 2012 he signed an 18-month contract with fellow First Division team

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

, for a transfer fee of

€ 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 ...

90,000. He made his official debut six days later, playing 23 minutes in a 0–0 home draw with his former employers. Sousa made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

debut on 14 February 2012 at the age of 34, featuring 72 minutes in a 1–0 defeat at Olympique Lyonnais in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. He added a further two appearances, as the side reached the quarter-finals for the first time ever. On 29 January 2013, Sousa's contract with APOEL was terminated by mutual consent. The following day, he returned to his homeland and signed for two years with former club Trofense. Sousa played well into his 40s, always in lower-league or amateur football.

References

External links

APOEL official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Helder 1977 births Living people Footballers from Matosinhos Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Padroense F.C. players C.D. Trofense players S.C. Braga B players S.C. Braga players A.D. Ovarense players Gondomar S.C. players C.D. Feirense players F.C. Vizela players F.C. Pedras Rubras players Merelinense F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Olympiakos Nicosia players APOEL FC players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus