Ricardo Domingos Barbosa Pereira (born 6 October 1993) 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 ...

who plays as a full-back for

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 Fo ...

club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. After starting out at

Vitória de Guimarães 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 ...

– winning the 2013 Taça de Portugal and being the competition's top scorer in the process – he signed with

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, being part of the squad that won the

2017–18 Primeira Liga The 2017–18 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. Benfica were the defending champions for a fourth conse ...

but also spending two years on loan to French club

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

. An international since 2015, Pereira represented

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

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Club career

Vitória Guimarães

Born in Lisbon of Cape Verdean descent, Pereira began playing youth football with local C.F. Benfica, signing in 2010 with Associação Naval 1º de Maio after a six-year spell at

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 ...

's academy. He moved to

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, commonly known as Vitória de Guimarães, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top-flight of football in Portugal. Vitória de Guimarães have finished t ...

after only one year, completing his development with the Guimarães-based club. Pereira made his first-team – and Primeira Liga – debut on 1 April 2012, playing 12 minutes in a 3–1 home win over

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 ...

. He scored six goals in as many games in the 2012–13 edition of 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 sea ...

, including the 2–1 winner 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 ...

against

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

as the Minho Province side won the tournament for the first time in their history.

Porto

On 16 April 2013, before the season was over, Pereira agreed to join FC Porto on 1 July, moving alongside teammate

Tiago Rodrigues Tiago Filipe Sousa Nóbrega Rodrigues (born 29 January 1992) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for TFF First League club Gençlerbirliği. Club career Born in Vila Real, Vila Real District, Rodrigues played youth ...

. He alternated constantly between the first and the second teams during his early tenure, also being reconverted into a full-back by manager

Paulo Fonseca Paulo Alexandre Rodrigues Fonseca (born 5 March 1973) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is the current head coach of French ...

. His maiden appearance in 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 competi ...

took place on 26 August 2014, when he replaced the injured

Casemiro Carlos Henrique Casimiro (born 23 February 1992), known as Casemiro, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Manchester United and the Brazil national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best d ...

late into the 2–0 home victory over Lille OSC in the play-off round. In summer 2015, after only 33 first-team appearances over two seasons, Pereira was loaned for two years to French club OGC Nice. He made his debut in Ligue 1 on 12 September, playing the entire 0–1 home loss to En Avant de Guingamp. Pereira was voted as the French League's best full-back by the

International Centre for Sports Studies The International Centre for Sports Studies, known mostly by the initials CIES from the French ''Centre International d'Etude du Sport'', is an independent, research and education organization, located in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. It had a resea ...

in April 2016.

Leicester City

On 17 May 2018, a €25 million deal was agreed for Pereira to move to

. He made his

debut on 10 August, playing the entire 2–1 away defeat against Manchester United. He scored his first goal while celebrating his 25th birthday, netting after a counter-attack in a 1–2 home loss to Everton. At the end of the campaign, he was voted both his team's Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season. Pereira scored in consecutive wins over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

and Newcastle United in September 2019, both at the

King Power Stadium King Power Stadium (also known as the Leicester City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations and formerly known as the Walkers Stadium) is a football stadium in Leicester, England. It has been the home of Premier League club Leicester City ...

, and the following 4 March he netted the only goal against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

in the

fifth round Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash th ...

of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

to put the Foxes into the last eight for the second time in eight years. Days later, he was ruled out for the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury. On 18 February 2022, Pereira signed a contract extension until 2026. On 14 April, his 88th-minute strike closed a 2–1 victory at

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

(also the aggregate score) and confirmed qualification to the semi-finals of the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on thei ...

International career

Pereira won 35

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

at youth level, scoring 12 goals. He was part of the under-21 squad that finished second at the 2015 UEFA European Championship, contributing with four starting appearances and netting in the 5–0 semi-final drubbing of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. On 6 November 2015, Pereira was called up to the full side for the second time, ahead of friendlies against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. He made his debut in the former match, featuring eight minutes in the 1–0 defeat in

Krasnodar Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...

. Pereira was selected by manager Fernando Santos for his 2018 FIFA World Cup squad. He made his debut in the competition on 30 June, playing the entire 2–1 loss to

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

in the round of 16.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Vitória Guimarães *

2012–13 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 ...

Porto * Primeira Liga: 2017–18 Leicester City *

: 2020–21 * FA Community Shield:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Portugal *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

runner-up: 2015 Individual *Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2017–18 *

Player of the Season/Players' Player of the Season: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pereira, Ricardo 1993 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Cape Verdean descent Black Portuguese sportspeople Portuguese footballers Footballers from Lisbon Association football defenders Association football wingers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Vitória S.C. players Vitória S.C. B players FC Porto B players FC Porto players Ligue 1 players OGC Nice players Premier League players Leicester City F.C. players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England