Miguel Ângelo da Silva Rocha (born 10 November 1994), known as Xeka (), 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 ...

who plays as a

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 ...

. Formed at

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, he spent most of his career in France, playing for

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

and Rennes in Ligue 1 and winning the league with the first of those teams in 2020–21 while making 144 total appearances.

Club career

Braga

Born in Rebordosa, Paredes, Xeka received his nickname from his grandfather for being the youngest of his siblings, just like him. He played youth football with three clubs, including

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

from Spain until the age of 17. Having returned to his homeland, he started playing as a senior with

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

's reserves in the Segunda Liga, being then loaned for two years to S.C. Covilhã of the same league. On 23 September 2013, whilst at the service of the former side, he scored his first goal in competition, but in a 1–3 home loss against

S.L. Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B", commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play in ...

. Xeka started being called to Braga's first team in October 2016, by manager

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 sever ...

. He made his debut in the Primeira Liga late in that month, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win over G.D. Chaves. His fortunes changed, however, when

Jorge Simão António Jorge Rocha Simão (born 12 August 1976) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently a manager. Having played only as an amateur, he began work as an assistant manager at 26, before his first outright posit ...

became the new coach before the end of the year.

Lille

On 31 January 2017, Xeka was loaned to Lille OSC from Ligue 1 until June. He made his debut four days later as a starter in a 1–0 home loss to

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (; commonly referred to FC Lorient or simply Lorient) is a French association football club based in Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in we ...

. He made 13 appearances for the 12th-place team and scored in a 3–0 win at

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current ...

on 29 April, assisted by compatriot

Rony Lopes Marcos Paulo Mesquita "Rony" Lopes (born 28 December 1995) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or Winger (association football), right winger for Primeira Liga club S.C. Braga. Earl ...

. In June 2017, Lille exercised the

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

5 million buyout clause to make Xeka's move permanent. In the last hours of the summer

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 wi ...

, he joined

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; literally "Dijon Football Gold Coast"), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in ...

in the same league in 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 ...

-long loan. He became a regular under

Christophe Galtier Christophe Galtier (born 23 August 1966) is a French professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. A defender, Galtier was a journeyman professional who spent many of his 15 years as ...

at the

Stade Pierre-Mauroy The Stade Pierre-Mauroy, also known as the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre-Mauroy for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-use retractable roof stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Métropole Européenne de Lille), France, that opened in August 2012. It ha ...

the following year, but suffered a thigh injury in a 5–1 home victory over

Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As ...

on 14 April 2019, ruling him out until September. Xeka contributed 33 matches and one goal during the 2020–21 campaign to help Lille win the national championship for the fourth time in their history. On 1 August 2021, he scored in the 1–0 defeat of PSG in the

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

, with the club winning that trophy for the first time ever. On 20 May 2022, Xeka was released at the end of his contract.

Rennes

On 21 September 2022, Xeka agreed to a two-year deal at

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

also of the French top tier. He made his debut on 9 October, starting in a 3–0 home win over

Derby Breton The Derby de la Bretagne (, ''Brittany Derby''; also known as the Derby Breton () is a football match. The match can potentially designate any match-up between two sporting football associations based in the historic province of Brittany; however ...

rivals

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as a ...

. In January, he had ankle surgery. Xeka left

Roazhon Park The Roazhon Park is a football stadium in Rennes, Brittany, France. ''Roazhon'' is the Breton name of Rennes. The stadium was inaugurated on 15 September 1912. It is located at 111 route de Lorient, in west-central Rennes. Rebuilt in 2001 and ...

by mutual consent on 10 August 2023, with only nine matches to his name.

International career

Xeka earned one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for Portugal at under-20 level on 5 February 2014, in a 2–0 friendly win over Slovakia under-21 in

Marinha Grande Marinha Grande () is a municipality in the Leiria District, Portugal. The population in 2021 was 39,032, in an area of 187.25 km². The city itself has a population of 32,330. It is located right in the middle of the 700-year-old Leiria pine ...

. He played the final ten minutes as a substitute for Tomás Podstawski.

Career statistics

Honours

Lille * Ligue 1: 2020–21 *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

*
Portuguese League profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xeka 1994 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Paredes, Portugal Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players S.C. Braga B players S.C. Covilhã players S.C. Braga players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 2 players Lille OSC players Dijon FCO players Stade Rennais F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France