Úmaro Embaló (born 6 May 2001) is a 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 winger for Primeira Liga club

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

, on loan from

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

. Born in Guinea-Bissau, he was a youth international for Portugal.

Club career

Benfica

Embaló progressed through Benfica's youth academy, after being scouted AD Oeiras in 2015. On 12 September 2017, Embaló made his debut for the under-19 team in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

in a 5–1 home victory against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

, replacing Jota in the 75th minute and scoring the final goal of the game in the 89th minute. On 27 October 2018, he made his debut for Benfica's reserves in the Segunda Liga, coming on as a late substitute for Chris Willock in a 3–2 home win against

Sporting da Covilhã Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *AC Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *Real Sportin ...

. In the 2018–19 season, he appeared in all six games with the under-19 team in the UEFA Youth League, scoring once and reaching the knockout stage, where they eventually lost to Montpellier. He made three appearances for the reserves in the second division that

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 ...

. Embaló scored his first Segunda Liga goal on 11 August 2019 against

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has h ...

, catching opposing goalkeeper António Filipe on the wrong foot with a misplaced cross which sailed into the top corner, to secure a 2–1 victory. He played in nine games in the second division and scored twice that

, before it was abandoned due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal The COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal is part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 2 March 2020, the virus was confirmed to have reached the country when it was report ...

. In the UEFA Youth League, the team made it to the final after defeating

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

(3–1) and

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

(3–0). However, Benfica lost 3–2 to Real Madrid's under-19s in the final in which Embaló started, despite

Gonçalo Ramos Gonçalo Matias Ramos (; born 20 June 2001) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Primeira Liga club Benfica and the Portugal national team. Born in Olhão, Ramos came through Benfica's youth academy. He began ...

' brace. Embaló made seven appearances and scored three goals in the Youth League that season. In the 2020–21 season, he missed the entire first half of the season due to various reasons, including testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. In the second half of the season, he made sixteen appearances. During his time at Benfica, he was reported to having received interest by Real Madrid, Manchester United,

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...

and

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 ...

, but a move failed to come to fruition.

Fortuna Sittard

In August 2022, Embaló signed a four-year contract with

club

for a fee reported to be in the region of €1 million with a 50% sell-on clause. He made his debut for the club on 17 September in a 1–0 league victory against

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

, replacing Tijjani Noslin in the 55th minute. On 2 October, he scored on his first ever start for Fortuna, curling a strike from distance into the top corner in a 2–0 Eredivisie win over

Volendam Volendam () is a fishing town in the municipality of Edam-Volendam, province of North Holland, Netherlands. As of 1 January 2021, it has a population of 22,715. It is twinned with Coventry, England. History Originally, Volendam was the location o ...

. On 29 August 2023, Embaló was loaned to Spanish Segunda División side Cartagena for the 2023–24 season. On 31 January 2024, he moved on a new loan to

Career statistics

Honours

Benfica U19 *

Campeonato Nacional de Juniores The Campeonato Nacional de Juniores is the top level of the Portuguese football league system for youth players (19-year-old and under). It is administrated by the Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, F ...

: 2017–18 *

runner-up: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Embalo, Umaro 2001 births Living people Footballers from Bissau Portuguese men's footballers Bissau-Guinean men's footballers Bissau-Guinean emigrants to Portugal Portuguese sportspeople of Bissau-Guinean descent Black Portuguese sportspeople Portugal men's youth international footballers Men's association football wingers Liga Portugal 2 players Eredivisie players S.L. Benfica B players Fortuna Sittard players FC Cartagena footballers Segunda División players Rio Ave F.C. players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Bissau-Guinean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Bissau-Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Spain