Ricardo Jorge Cecília Batista (born 19 November 1986) 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

Casa Pia A.C. Casa Pia Atlético Clube is a Portuguese multi-sports founded in 1920 and based in Lisbon, Portugal, best-known for its football team, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after Casa Pia, a Portuguese children's charity, and many ...

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 ...

Club career

Fulham

Born in

Torres Vedras Torres Vedras () is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon in the Oeste region, in the Centro of Portugal. The population was 83,075, in an area of . History In 1148, Afonso I took th ...

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 ...

to a Cape Verdean father and an Angolan mother, Batista started his career with Vitória F.C. in his hometown. In late 2004, aged only 18, he was signed by English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. His only senior appearance for them was on 21 September 2005 in the second round of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against Lincoln City: his team won 5–4, but

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

's match reporter dubbed his performance "disappointing". Batista spent the second half of 2005–06 on loan to

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

, for whom he played nine

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

matches. For most of the following season he was on loan to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He made 35 appearances in all competitions and helped them reach the League Cup semi-final, in which they held

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

to a draw in the first leg before losing the second 4–0. In July 2007, Batista extended his contract at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

to run until 2009.

Sporting CP

On 16 July 2008, Batista signed with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

for a 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 o ...

158,000. He was only third choice during his two-year spell with the

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 ...

club, his input consisting of the match against

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

in the 2008–09 edition of 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 ...

(5–1 home win). Batista was loaned to

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

for the 2010–11 campaign, initially backing up

Marcelo Moretto Marcelo Moretto de Souza (born 10 May 1978), known as Moretto, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Club career Early years Born in Eldorado, Mato Grosso do Sul, Moretto played four years professionally in his home ...

and playing in the domestic cups. After the Brazilian left for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

he became the starter, as the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

team eventually retained their

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, ...

status; his debut in the competition occurred on 19 December 2010, in a 0–0 home draw with

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

. On 25 July 2011, Batista was banned for two years for doping, after testing positive in a game against Académica de Coimbra held in January.

Later years

After his punishment, Batista represented Nacional and Vitória de Setúbal still in the Portuguese top division. He signed with Angola's

C.R.D. Libolo Clube Recreativo Desportivo do Libolo, usually known simply as Recreativo do Libolo, is an Angolan multisport club based in Libolo, Cuanza Sul Province. History has it that C.R.D. Libolo resulted as a merger of three different clubs in the vill ...

in July 2015. Batista returned to Portugal on 30 August 2020 following a two-year spell 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 ...

with

CS Gaz Metan Mediaș Clubul Sportiv Gaz Metan Mediaș (), commonly known as Gaz Metan Mediaș or simply as Gaz Metan, was a Romanian professional football club based in Mediaș, Sibiu County. Founded in 1945 as ''Karres Mediaș'', the team spent most of its existe ...

where he only made four competitive appearances, barred by veteran

Răzvan Pleșca Răzvan Nicolae Pleșca (born 25 November 1982) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In his career Pleșca played mostly for Gaz Metan Mediaș, but also for teams such as Național București, Politehnica Ia ...

, joining

Liga Portugal 2 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 ...

club

on a one-year contract. In 2021–22, Batista only missed two matches as Casa Pia finished second and returned to the top tier after a 83-year absence. For his performances, he was voted Goalkeeper of the Year.

International career

Batista participated with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at the

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. Summary For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Nethe ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, backing up

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 ...

Paulo Ribeiro Paulo António da Silva Ribeiro (born 6 March 1984) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Ribeiro was born in Setúbal. After emerging through local Vitória FC's youth academy and making his Pri ...

. He made his debut in the category on 14 November 2006, in a 3–0 friendly win over

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. On 6 March 2021, Batista was called up to represent the Angola national team.

Honours

Libolo *

Girabola Girabola, or ''Campeonato Nacional de Futebol em Séniores Masculinos'', is the top division of Angolan football. It is organized by the Angolan Football Federation. The league winner and runner-up qualify for the CAF Champions League. Gira ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Taça de Angola :''This is about the Angolan football (soccer) competition. For the similarly named sports competitions, see Taça de Angola (basketball), Taça de Angola (handball) Taça de Angola (roller hockey)'' The Angolan football Cup is the main "knockout" ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

* Supertaça de Angola:

Individual *

Goalkeeper of the Year: 2021–22 *Liga Portugal 2 Team of the Season: 2021–22 *Liga Portugal 2 Goalkeeper of the Month: October/November 2021, December 2021, January 2022, February 2022 *

Goalkeeper of the Month: August 2022

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Batista, Ricardo 1986 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent Sportspeople from Torres Vedras Black Portuguese sportspeople Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon District Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Vitória F.C. players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Olhanense players C.D. Nacional players Casa Pia A.C. players English Football League players Fulham F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Girabola players C.R.D. Libolo players Liga I players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Angola Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Angola Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Doping cases in association football Portuguese sportspeople in doping cases