Matheus Lima Magalhães (born 29 March 1992), known simply as Matheus, is a Brazilian 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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

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, ...

club

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

. Formed at América Mineiro, he spent most of his career at

in Portugal, making over 300 appearances and winning the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

and the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

twice each.

Club career

América Mineiro

Born in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, Matheus joined

América Futebol Clube (MG) América Futebol Clube (also known as América Mineiro, Coelho or simply América) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Belo Horizonte, capital city of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Founded in 1912, the club preserves its nam ...

's youth setup in 2008, aged 13. Ahead of the 2012 season, he was promoted to the first team after impressing in the 2011

Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 The Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20 is the official Brazilian national football tournament for U-20 teams. The Rio Grande do Sul Football Association (FGF) created the competition in 2006 and since 2015 it is organized by the Brazilian Football C ...

. Matheus made his professional debut on 19 September 2012, coming on as a second-half substitute for field player

Fábio Júnior Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...

as starter Neneca was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

, in a 2–0 away loss against

Clube Atlético Bragantino Red Bull Bragantino, commonly known as Bragantino, is a Brazilian football club based in Bragança Paulista, São Paulo. It competes in the Série A, the top tier of the Brazilian football league system, as well as in the Campeonato Paulista S ...

in the Série B. The following June, he was chosen as first choice by manager Paulo Comelli, and retained his position during the campaign.

Braga

On 4 July 2014, Matheus moved abroad and signed a five-year contract with Portuguese club

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 f ...

. He made his

debut on 27 September in a 3–0 home win over

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

, and finished his first season as starter ahead of

Stanislav Kritsyuk Stanislav Vasilyevich Kritsyuk (russian: Станислав Васильевич Крицюк; born 1 December 1990) is a Russian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Portuguese club Gil Vicente. Club career He made his Russia ...

and compatriot Victor Golas after being delayed by bureaucratic problems. Matheus lost his starting spot to José Marafona in the following campaigns, missing the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

win over

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

in 2016 after playing the earlier rounds. He made his continental debut in that same season's

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 ...

, appearing in 12 games and only receiving a

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

in the quarter-final elimination away to

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...

on 14 April, after conceding 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 ...

through a foul on Viktor Kovalenko. Matheus returned to the starting XI in 2017–18 after Marafone was injured, and on 15 March 2018 he renewed his contract until 2023. He played every minute of the campaign, in which his club finished fourth; only five other players in the league matched his feat, three of whom shared his position. Matheus suffered a severe

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury in late August 2018, after which Tiago Sá had a run in the team. He returned to his starting role for the 2019–20 season, playing four matches in the

that year, including the 1–0 victory against Porto in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

on 25 January; he featured in as many games in the

2020–21 Taça de Portugal The 2020–21 Taça de Portugal (also known as Taça de Portugal Placard for sponsorship reasons) was the 81st edition of the Taça de Portugal, the premier knockout competition in Portuguese football. A total of 165 clubs compete in this editio ...

which ended with a 2–0 defeat of

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. In the following campaign's Europa League, Matheus made two saves in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

win over

FC Sheriff Tiraspol Fotbal Club Sheriff (russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnist ...

in the knockout round play-off on 24 February 2022, and days after the last-eight elimination by Rangers in April he extended his contract to 2027. On 12 August, after a 3–0 win at nearby

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 ...

, he reached 250 appearances for the Minho club. He was sent off for them for the first time on 30 September for a foul on Porto's

Mehdi Taremi Mehdi Taremi ( fa, مهدی طارمی; born 18 July 1992) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Primeira Liga club Porto and the Iran national team. A late bloomer, he begun his career at Shahin Bushehr and Iranjav ...

, in an eventual 4–1 defeat. On 15 August 2023, Matheus surpassed compatriot

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

's record of 63 games for Braga in European competition, in a 4–1 away win over Serbia's

FK TSC Fudbalski klub TSC ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб ТСЦ, hu, Topolyai Sport Club), commonly known as TSC, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bačka Topola and currently the second oldest football club in the Serbian SuperL ...

in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of the

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 ...

. Eighteen days later, against Sporting, he made his 300th appearance and became the club's most experienced goalkeeper of all time.

Personal life

Matheus' older brother, Moisés, was also a footballer. 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 ...

, he too started his career at América Mineiro. Matheus met and married his wife in

and had three children with her. He was naturalised as a Portuguese citizen in 2020 and expressed a desire to play for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

Career statistics

Honours

Braga *

: 2015–16,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: 2019–20, 2023–24 Individual *

Goalkeeper of the Month: November 2020, April 2022, March 2023

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matheus 1992 births Living people Portuguese people of Brazilian descent Naturalised citizens of Portugal Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Belo Horizonte Men's association football goalkeepers Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Primeira Liga players S.C. Braga players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal