Simão Mate Junior (born 23 June 1988) is a Mozambican professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is also a member of the

Mozambique national football team The Mozambique national football team ( pt, Seleção Moçambicana de Futebol) represents Mozambique in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Mozambican Football Federation, the governing body for football in Mozambi ...

, for which he has made 30 appearances since 2007. He represented the nation at the

2010 Africa Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange (telecommunications), Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial association football, football championship of Africa (Confederat ...

Career

Simão Mate started his career at Mozambican club

Clube Ferroviário de Maputo Clube Ferroviário de Maputo, or simply Ferroviário, is a Mozambique multi sports club from Maputo especially known for its football operations but also for its basketball and roller hockey team. History The club was founded in 1924, as ''Clu ...

in 2005. He was brought to Greece in August 2007 by

José Peseiro José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro (born 4 April 1960) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the manager of the Nigeria national team. After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach several ...

, who was then the head coach of

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, in order to be tested and after a three-week trial, he signed a four-year deal with the Greek club. Since then he has managed to surprise his coach and the team's fans with his solidness, strength and tenacity. Despite his young age, he has made some first-team appearances and has become a precious solution for his coach

Henk ten Cate Hendrik Willem ten Cate (born 9 December 1954) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. In the 2005–06 season, he was assistant to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona when the team won the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles. ...

. Although he was signed in order to play as a defender, circumstances and teammates' injuries made the team's coach to use Simão as a

, actually the player is established at fans' minds as a midfielder rather than a defender. Simão has been particularly impressive in the minds of many Panathinaikos supporters which came as a surprise, given his relative anonymity and small transfer cost. His debut season was a great success; Simão made 27 first-team appearances. In his second season, he scored a superb volley in Panathinaikos'

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 competit ...

3rd round qualifying match, away to

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

. He continued to impress domestically and in the Champions League proper, notably marking

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. Et ...

and nullifying his attacks in Panathinaikos' 3–0 victory against

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

. Simão was also included in

Tuttosport ''Tuttosport'' is an Italian sport newspaper published in Turin, Italy. History and profile ''Tuttosport'' was first published on 30 July 1945. Renato Casalbore (who later died in the 1949 Superga air disaster alongside the Il Grande Torino foo ...

's list of the top-rated 40 young footballers in the world, becoming the first player of

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

to achieve this accolade. On 20 February 2009, Simão signed a new contract with Panathinaikos which included a higher release clause. Simão also is among the Top-10 Rising Stars for the UEFA Champions League Competition for the season 2008–2009. On 18 February he scored his first goal which came in an away match against Crete-based Ergotelis for the 2011–2012 season. On 14 June 2012, 16 days before his contract ran out, Simao was released from the club. On 19 June 2012, Simão signed a contract with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side

Shandong Luneng Taishan Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is ...

, rejoining former Panathinaikos manager Henk ten Cate. He made his Super League debut 4 days later, in a 3–1 home victory against

Shanghai Shenxin Shanghai Shenxin Football Club () was a professional football club that participated in China's football league system between 2003 and 2019 under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Jinshan District, Shangha ...

, ending Shandong's 7-league-match winless run. His position in the club became unstable after ten Cate was sacked in September 2012.

Radomir Antić Radomir Antić ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Антић, ; 22 November 1948 – 6 April 2020) was a Serbian professional football manager and player. Following a 17-year playing career as a defender, most of which he spent playing at Partizan, wit ...

, new manager of the club preferred

Roda Antar Roda Abdelhassan Antar ( ar, رضا عبد الحسن عنتر; born 12 September 1980) is a Lebanese professional association football, football manager and former player. Formerly captain of Lebanon national football team, Lebanon, Antar score ...

more in the defensive midfielder position. Simão was released by Shandong in early 2013. Simão made a free move to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

in March 2013. On 20 April, Simão made his debut against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

and put in an assured display alongside

Pape Diop Pape Diop (born 17 April 1954.) is a Senegalese politician and a leading member of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) who was President of the Senate of Senegal from 2007 to 2012. He was Mayor of Dakar, the capital city, from 2002 to 2009, as ...

in the centre of midfield. On 29 December 2018, Simão signed a contract with

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in J2 League. The team is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after p ...

Club statistics

Honours

Panathinaikos *

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 ...

: 2009–10 *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: 2009–10 Vegalta Sendai * J.League Monthly MVP:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

(June)

References

External links

* * * *
Mate Junior Simão at Panathinaikos FC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mate, Simao Junior 1988 births Living people Footballers from Maputo Men's association football midfielders Mozambican men's footballers Mozambique men's international footballers Clube Ferroviário de Maputo footballers Panathinaikos F.C. players Shandong Taishan F.C. players Levante UD footballers Al Ahli SC (Doha) players Vegalta Sendai players Super League Greece players Chinese Super League players La Liga players J1 League players Qatar Stars League players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players Mozambican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Greece Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in China Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Qatar