Ricardo Jorge Oliveira Valente (born 3 April 1991) 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 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

Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city i ...

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Valente spent his first years as a senior in the lower leagues. In summer 2013 he signed for

C.D. Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of Portuguese football. Their chair ...

in the Segunda Liga, making his debut as a professional on 27 July by starting in a 3–1 away loss against

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese association football, football football team, club from Chaves, Portugal, Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Está ...

in the first round 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 ...

. He scored his first league goal on 23 November, contributing to a 1–1 draw at

Sporting CP B Sporting Clube de Portugal B is the reserve team of Portuguese football club Sporting CP, a team based in Lisbon. Reserve teams in Portugal play in the same league system as the senior team, rather than in a reserve team league. However, they cann ...

after entering the field as a late substitute. Valente joined

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as Leixões (), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well kno ...

of the same tier in the 2014 off-season, quickly excelling to become one of the

Matosinhos Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal () is a city and a municipality in the northern Porto district of Portugal, bordered in the south by the city of Porto (8 km from the city centre). The population in 2011 was 175,478, and covered an area of approx ...

side's top scorers. In the following

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, he moved to

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 ...

. Valente's first game in the

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, ...

occurred on 10 January 2015, as he played 33 minutes of the 3–0 away defeat to

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 ...

. He found the net in the next match, a 4–0 home win over Académica de Coimbra, and finished the campaign with 17 league goals between Leixões and Vitória. On 31 August 2016, Valente joined

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 ...

on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long loan deal. The following 12 July, he signed a permanent two-year contract with

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

. In March 2019, it was confirmed that Valente would not appear in any more matches for the

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

club after having subject to disciplinary proceedings; president Carlos Pereira commented that the player had an "irreverent temper", this not being the first time he had been internally suspended. Subsequently, Valente represented in quick succession

Hatta Club Hatta Club is a sports club based in Hatta in the Emirate of Dubai, UAE, founded in 1981. It is most widely known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the UAE Pro League. Current squad ''As of UAE First Division Leagu ...

(

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

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 ...

(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 ...

Tuzlaspor Tuzlaspor is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Tuzla, Istanbul. They play in the TFF First League. The club plays in white and blue kits, and have done so since their formation in 1954. League participations ...

(

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

Ionikos F.C. Ionikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Ιωνικός) or Ionikos Nikaia is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Nikaia, Attica, Nikaia, Piraeus, Greece, currently competing in the Super League Greece, the top-tier of th ...

(

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 ...

) and

CS Mioveni Clubul Sportiv Mioveni (; ''Mioveni Sports Club''), commonly known as CS Mioveni, or simply as Mioveni, is a Romanian professional football club based in Mioveni, Argeș County, currently playing in the Liga I. They were founded in 2000 as ''AS ...

(Romanian top division). In August 2022, the 31-year-old returned to Leixões after seven years.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valente, Ricardo 1991 births Living people Portuguese footballers Footballers from Porto Association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players AD Fafe players C.D. Feirense players Leixões S.C. players Vitória S.C. players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players C.S. Marítimo players C.D. Tondela players UAE Pro League players Hatta Club players Liga I players CS Gaz Metan Mediaș players CS Mioveni players TFF First League players Tuzlaspor players Super League Greece players Ionikos F.C. players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece