Matheus Leite Nascimento (born 15 January 1983), known simply as Matheus, is a Brazilian

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Associação Olímpica de Itabaiana Associação Olímpica de Itabaiana, commonly known as Itabaiana, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Itabaiana, Sergipe. The team plays in Série D, the fourth tier of the Brazilian football league system, as well as ...

. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal with Braga and in Ukraine with

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

, appearing in 154 competitive games with the second club (48 goals).

Club career

Early years and Braga

Matheus was born in Ribeirópolis,

Sergipe Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region along the Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geographical area at , larger only than the Federal District. Serg ...

. After starting professionally with lowly

, he moved to Portugal in summer 2005, with

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

team

F.C. Marco Futebol Clube do Marco was a Portuguese football team based in Marco de Canaveses, Porto District. Founded in 1927, it held home games at ''Estádio Municipal de Marco de Canaveses'', which has a 10,000-seat capacity. History Futebol Clube do Mar ...

. In January of the following year, however, he was bought by

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, ...

's S.C. Braga, making four appearances in his first season. During the year 2007, encompassing both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 campaigns, Matheus served two loans: in January 2007 he joined S.C. Beira-Mar, appearing from August–December with

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 ...

and being subsequently recalled by his parent club. In 2009–10, Matheus played all 30 league matches – but rarely as a starter – as Braga finished in a best-ever second place behind S.L. Benfica. He contributed five goals, in 1,142 minutes of action. Matheus started the following season with major contributions: on 28 July, he scored from a 35-meter free kick to close the score against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

(3–0 at home), as his team progressed to the next

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 competit ...

qualifying round ( 4–2 on aggregate). On 13 August, in the league opener against

Portimonense SC Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It a ...

, he started and opened the scoring in an eventual 3–1 home win. Five days later, again for the Champions League, he scored the game's only goal in a home victory over

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

– in celebrating the goal, he pulled out a pacifier and put it in his mouth– and netted the first in the second leg in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, in a 4–3 win (5–3 on aggregate). On 23 November 2010, Matheus scored twice in the dying minutes of the 2–0 Champions League home defeat of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, although Braga would eventually fail to reach the knockout stages of the competition, finishing third in their group.

Dnipro

In January 2011, the 28-year-old Matheus signed for

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro ( uk, Футбо́льний Клуб «Дніпро́», ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club was owned by the Privat Group that also owns BC Dnipro and Budivelnyk Kyiv. In 2018 FC Dnipro was forced in ...

in Ukraine, for

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1 million. He finished his first full season with seven goals from 23 appearances, helping his team to the fourth position. On 15 April 2014, he netted four times in their 5–1 home win against

FC Volyn Lutsk FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

. During the

2015 UEFA Europa League Final The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA E ...

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, Matheus collapsed on the field of play in the late stages of the team's 3–2 loss to Sevilla. Manager

Myron Markevych Myron Bohdanovych Markevych ( uk, Мирон Богданович Маркевич; born 1 February 1951) is a Ukrainian football manager and a former midfielder. He worked as a manager in the Ukrainian Premier League and the Ukrainian national ...

confirmed that he had been treated at hospital for a nasal fracture and a head injury, being discharged in good health hours later to reunite with his teammates.

China

On 12 June 2016, Matheus was supposed to join

Super League 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 ...

club PAOK FC on a free transfer, signing alongside teammates

Léo Matos Leonardo de Matos Cruz (born 2 April 1986), better known as Léo Matos, is a former Brazilian professional footballer who played as a right back. Club career Starting from the academies of Flamengo and having been for a short time in Marseille, ...

and Evhen Shakhov. However, the deal fell through and he moved to Shijiazhuang Ever Bright F.C. instead, on a two-year contract. Relegated in his first season, Matheus remained with the side in

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

, winning promotion back to the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. The following 11 September, on his 100th competitive game, he scored a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

for the only goal at home to Wuhan Zall FC. Matheus left five years later as a

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 ...

, but continued in the country with second-tier Zhejiang Professional FC. He earned another promotion at the end of the 2021 campaign.

Later career

On 24 January 2023, aged 40, Matheus returned to Itabaiana after eighteen years. He changed clubs again only three months later, signing for

Club Sportivo Sergipe Club Sportivo Sergipe, or Sergipe as they are usually called, is a Brazilian football team from Aracaju, the second oldest club in the state of Sergipe, founded on October 17, 1909. Club Sportivo Sergipe is the only team from Sergipe to have pl ...

in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série D.

International career

In March 2013, after more than two years of living in the country, Matheus indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for the Ukraine national team if asked.

Career statistics

Honours

Braga *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

runner-up:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Dnipro *UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2014–15 Individual *

Most Valuable Player:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

Brazilian FA database
* *
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheus 1983 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Sergipe Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players F.C. Marco players S.C. Braga players S.C. Beira-Mar players Vitória F.C. players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Dnipro players Chinese Super League players China League One players Cangzhou Mighty Lions F.C. players Zhejiang Professional F.C. players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China