Mário Rui Silva Duarte (born 27 May 1991), known as Mário Rui, is a Portuguese

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and the Portugal national team. Formed at Benfica, he spent most of his professional career in Italy, making over 200 appearances in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

for Empoli, Roma and Napoli and winning the 2022–23 Serie A and the

2019–20 Coppa Italia The 2019–20 Coppa Italia (branded as the Coppa Italia Coca-Cola for sponsorship reasons during the final) was the 73rd edition of the national cup in Italian football. Lazio were the defending champions having won their seventh title in May 201 ...

with the last of those clubs. Mário Rui was part of the Portugal squad at the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Club career

Early years and Empoli

Born in Sines,

Setúbal District The District of Setúbal ( pt, Distrito de Setúbal ) is a district located in the south-west of Portugal. It is named for its capital, the city of Setúbal. Geography It is delimited by Lisbon District and Santarém District on the north, Év ...

, Mário Rui started his career at local Vasco da Gama Atlético Clube. He then played for the youth teams of

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

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 ...

and

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

, being signed by

Parma F.C. Parma Calcio 1913 (), commonly known as Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. ''Parma Football Club'' was originally founded in Decembe ...

in summer 2011 and being loaned immediately to fellow Italians A.S. Gubbio 1910; he joined the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

club following that year's

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

, with the international transfer certificate arriving on 2 September. In June 2012, Parma signed Mário Rui for

€ 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 ...

595,000 on a five-year contract (paid to Gubbio), effectively on 1 July.Parma FC SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2013
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
(in Italian) Also that month, he joined Spezia Calcio on a temporary deal for free. Mário Rui moved to

Empoli F.C. Empoli Football Club, commonly referred to as Empoli, is an Italian football club based in Empoli, Metropolitan City of Florence. Founded in 1920, the side is part of a select group of Italian football clubs that do not belong to a provincial ...

on 28 June 2013, for €550,000. He contributed 26 matches in his first season, as his new team returned to

after a six-year absence. In June 2014, Parma gave up the remaining 50% rights of Mário Rui to Empoli. He first appeared in the Italian top flight on 31 August, coming on as a 66th-minute substitute for Elseid Hysaj in a 2–0 away loss against

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a foo ...

Roma

On 8 July 2016, Mário Rui was signed by

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

in a temporary deal for a loan fee of €3 million (plus €1.5 million in bonuses), with a conditional obligation to sign him outright for an additional €6 million. He started the season injured, only making his debut on 19 January 2017 when he played 78 minutes in a 4–0 home win over

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

Napoli

On 13 July 2017, Mário Rui joined

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...

on an initial €3.75 million loan; depending on the achievement of certain sporting targets, the club would have an obligation to buy him outright for a further €5.5 million. He made his debut in the seventh game of the season at home to

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2022-23 season, they compete in Serie B. As of 2021–22, the team is temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-sea ...

on 1 October, as a late substitute in a 3–0 win. His first goal in the Italian top division came the following 10 February, helping the hosts to defeat S.S. Lazio 4–1. He became the starting left-back after

Faouzi Ghoulam Faouzi Ghoulam ( ar, فوزي غلام (); born 1 February 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Angers. Born in France, Ghoulam is a former Algeria international, scoring five goals in 37 appearances for the n ...

's knee injury in November, and in April his agent threatened to find him a new team if he would not retain that place after the

Algeria international The Algeria International in badminton is an international open held in Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = A ...

's recovery. Mário Rui played the first 81 minutes of the

2020 Coppa Italia Final The 2020 Coppa Italia Final decided the winners of the 2019–20 Coppa Italia, the 73rd season of Italy's main football cup. It was originally scheduled to be played on 13 May 2020, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. However, due to the COVID-19 pan ...

on 17 June, which Napoli won on penalties after a goalless draw with

Juventus FC )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

. On 6 August, he extended his contract to 2025, with an annual salary of €2.5 million. He and Ghoulam were both dropped by manager

Gennaro Gattuso Gennaro Ivan Gattuso (; born 9 January 1978) is an Italian professional football coach and former player, who currently serves as manager of La Liga club Valencia. He was born in Corigliano (Calabria). As a player, he mainly played in the cent ...

for the 1–0 victory at Bologna F.C. 1909 on 8 November for breaking curfew.

International career

All youth levels comprised, Mário Rui earned 51

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. During the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup he appeared in five out of seven matches for the eventual finalists, scoring his only goal for his country in a 1–0 group stage victory over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. His debut with the under-21 team arrived on 5 September 2011, when he played the entirety of a 1–0 friendly defeat of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. In March 2018, Mário Rui was called by full side manager Fernando Santos for exhibition games with

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

as a replacement for the injured Fábio Coentrão, making his debut against the latter by playing the full 90 minutes in the 3–0 loss in Switzerland. He was included in the final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. In September 2022, Santos called Mário Rui up for the first time in nearly two years in place of the injured

Raphaël Guerreiro Raphaël Adelino José Guerreiro (; born 22 December 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as left-back or as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Portugal national team. He began his career at Caen, signing in 2 ...

, for

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

fixtures against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

; he started the first fixture in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, a 4–0 win. The following month, he was one of 55 players pre-selected for the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first ...

in Qatar.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Napoli *

: 2022–23 *

: 2019–20 Portugal U20 *

runner-up: 2011 Portugal *

: 2018–19 Orders * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Knight BAR

Knight of the Order of Prince Henry

References

External links

Napoli official profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mario Rui 1991 births Living people People from Sines Footballers from Setúbal District Portuguese footballers Men's association football defenders Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers C.D. Fátima players Serie A players Serie B players Parma Calcio 1913 players A.S. Gubbio 1910 players Spezia Calcio players Empoli FC players AS Roma players SSC Napoli players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Nations League-winning players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy