Rui Miguel Melo Rodrigues (born 15 November 1983), known as Rui Miguel, is a Portuguese former 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 played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Club career

Born in Viseu, Rui Miguel began playing for hometown's Académico FC, first appearing as a senior 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 ...

. In 2004, he stayed in that level, signing with

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã, is Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the second-tier Liga Portugal 2. The club was founded in 1923. Their nickname is the ...

. Rui Miguel moved into 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, ...

in the following season, 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 ...

. His competition debut took place on 22 August 2005 as he came on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 away win against Vitória de Guimarães, and the vast majority of his appearances would also be from the bench, as on 26 August in the 2–3 home loss to

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 ...

where he featured 35 minutes. Rui Miguel started 2006–07 again in division three, with

S.L. Nelas Sport Lisboa e Nelas is a Portuguese football club located in the village of Nelas, Viseu. The club was founded on 25 August 1939. It is a branch club of both Benfica and Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Port ...

. However, in January 2007, he moved to

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 ...

and signed with

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ''Yo ...

; after one and a half years he returned to his country, where he finally would make a name for himself in the top flight, first with

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 stadi ...

. Rui Miguel signed with Vitória Guimarães for the 2009–10 campaign. Never an undisputed started except for the league's final games (four of his five goals came during that stretch), he contributed solidly as the

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

-based team finished sixth and nearly qualified for the

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 ...

, for example scoring a last-minute equaliser against eventually fourth-placed Sporting CP (1–1, at home). After two seasons in Minho and 51 official appearances, Rui Miguel signed for

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n club

FC Krasnodar FC Krasnodar is a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. The club was founded in 2008. In 2009, the club was promoted to the Russian First Division, the second highest division of the Ru ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rui Miguel 1983 births Living people People from Viseu Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Académico de Viseu F.C. players S.C. Covilhã players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Vitória S.C. players C.D. Trofense players Ekstraklasa players Zagłębie Lubin players Russian Premier League players FC Krasnodar players Liga I players FC Astra Giurgiu players Cypriot First Division players AEL Limassol players Moldovan Super Liga players FC Zimbru Chișinău players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Moldova Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Poland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Russia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Sportspeople from Viseu District