Roberto Porfírio Maximiano Rodrigo (born 28 November 1988), known simply as Roberto, 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

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 ...

. Mainly associated with Arouca whom he represented in three spells, he played 88

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, ...

matches and scored 18 goals, also for

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

. In

LigaPro 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 ...

, he surpassed 200 games and 70 goals in service of five teams.

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 ...

, Roberto arrived at

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 ...

at the age of 16 and made one half-hour substitute appearance for their reserves in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

on 7 May 2006, a goalless draw against

S.C. Espinho Sporting Clube de Espinho, also known as Sporting de Espinho, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Espinho in the Aveiro district. Besides football, the club has volleyball and handball departments that usually compete in the major Po ...

. He carried on playing no higher than that level, for several clubs. After a breakthrough

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 ...

in which he scored 19 goals for

F.C. Tirsense Futebol Clube Tirsense, commonly known as just Tirsense, is a Portuguese football club from Santo Tirso, founded on January 5, 1938. They currently play in the Divisão de Elite of AF Porto. They currently play their home games in Abel Alves de F ...

, he signed a four-year deal with

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, is a Portuguese football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it plays in the Division of Honour in the Coimbra Football Associ ...

of the Segunda Liga. After terminating his contract with Naval due to lack of payment at the end of 2012, Roberto moved across the second tier the following January to join

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a football club based in Arouca, Porto Metropolitan Area, Portugal. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,000-seat capacity. History Founde ...

. He contributed three goals in 11 matches as they earned a first-ever promotion to the

as runners-up to

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

, followed by six more in the top flight. In July 2014, Roberto moved abroad to FC Tosno in the

Russian First Division The Russian First League (russian: Первая лига, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division (russian: Первый дивизион) and Russian Football National League (FNL) (russian: Первенство Футбольн� ...

but did not play, returning a month later to Arouca on a three-year deal. He scored six goals as the team stayed up again, including two in a 3–3 home draw against

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 8 February 2015. Roberto was loaned to fellow top-division club

Moreirense F.C. Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

in July 2016. He played four games as they

won Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

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 ...

for the first time in their history, netting twice on 29 December in a 3–3 home draw with Belenenses in the group stage. In the summer of 2017, Roberto moved abroad again to

U.S. Salernitana 1919 Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recen ...

of Italy's

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

but again returned immediately to Arouca, this time on loan. He scored nine times in this spell, including a brace on 17 February 2018 in a 3–1 away victory over

S.C. Braga B Sporting Clube de Braga B, commonly known as Sporting de Braga B or just Braga B, is a Portuguese association football, football team. It is the reserve team of S.C. Braga. Reserve teams in Portugal play in the same league system as the senior te ...

. Roberto cut ties with Salernitana after his year in Arouca, signing a two-year contract with second-tier

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

on 1 July 2018. His first season as a ''Canary'' was the most prolific of his professional career with 13 goals in 26 games, fourth best in the league. He followed this with 12 in 22 in his second year, including a first professional

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on 3 November 2019 in a 3–1 home defeat of Académico de Viseu FC. On 7 July 2020, Roberto agreed to a one-year deal at

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 ...

. He remained in the second division subsequently, with

F.C. Penafiel Futebol Clube de Penafiel ( or ) is a Portuguese Association football, football club founded on 8 February 1951 and based in the city of Penafiel, Portugal, Penafiel. Brief history Penafiel first reached the Portuguese Liga, first division in Po ...

and

Honours

Moreirense *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberto Rodrigo 1988 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Porto Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players FC Porto B players CD Operário players F.C. Tirsense players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players F.C. Arouca players Moreirense F.C. players G.D. Estoril Praia players G.D. Chaves players F.C. Penafiel players C.D. Tondela players FC Tosno players US Salernitana 1919 players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Russia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy