Mateus Galiano da Costa (born 19 June 1984), known simply as Mateus, is an Angolan 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, rugb ...

who plays as a forward for Portuguese club

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

. He spent practically all of his career in Portugal, recording 280 games and 51 goals in 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, ...

. He represented four teams in the division, mainly Nacional and Boavista. Mateus made his debut for

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

in 2006 and earned 68

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. He was selected for the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

and four

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internat ...

tournaments.

Club career

Early years and ''Caso Mateus''

Mateus was born in

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seapo ...

. After started playing professionally for modest Portuguese teams (he had a stint with

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 ...

, but never moved past their reserves), he signed in January 2006 with

Gil Vicente F.C. Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

of the

. He scored in his debut on 5 February, in a 5–0 home win against

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

. However, Mateus was at the centre of a judicial controversy that erupted in Portuguese football, known as ''Caso Mateus'' (Mateus Affair), after a supposedly illegal registration by the Barcelos club. Following a lengthy judicial battle between Gil and C.F. Os Belenenses, the former were relegated. After an uneventful

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 ...

with Gil Vicente in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, greatly delayed by the legal consequences, Mateus joined Boavista F.C. for the 2007–08 campaign. His new team was also eventually relegated, due to irregularities.

Nacional

In 2008–09, Mateus moved to

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

's C.D. Nacional, being a regular in their attack as they 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. ...

. In the same season, he played six games and scored four goals as they reached the semi-finals of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

, including one in each leg of a 5–2 aggregate elimination by F.C. Paços de Ferreira. Mateus continued to be play frequently for the better part of the following years, notably netting nine goals in 24 matches in the 2011–12 season. On 7 April 2012, he scored twice in a 4–2 away victory over

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its hig ...

rivals

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Li ...

Later career

On 17 November 2013, Mateus moved to his country's league for the first time, signing for

C.D. Primeiro de Agosto Clube Desportivo 1º de Agosto is a multisports club from Luanda, Angola. The club, founded 1 August 1977, is attached to the Angolan armed forces, which is its sponsor. Its main team competes in men's football, and its professional Primeiro de ...

for the new year. In December 2015, he agreed a move back to Portugal's top flight, joining F.C. Arouca for the remainder of the campaign with the option of one more. Mateus returned to Boavista on 23 June 2017, signing a one-year deal a decade after first joining the club. After six goals from 31 appearances in his first season back at the

Estádio do Bessa The Estádio do Bessa (now ''Estádio do Bessa Sec. XXI'') is a football stadium located in the Boavista area of Porto, Portugal, used by Boavista F.C. Like other stadiums used in Euro 2004, the Bessa is a new ground but built on top of the old ...

, he extended his link until 2020. At the end of his contract, Mateus moved to

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pri ...

side

F.C. Penafiel Futebol Clube de Penafiel ( or ) is a Portuguese football club founded on 8 February 1951 and based in the city of Penafiel. Brief history Penafiel first reached the first division in 1980–81, first lasting two seasons. They also played the ...

on a one-year deal. In July 2021, he dropped into the Liga 3 at the age of 37 with

S.C.U. Torreense Sport Clube União Torreense is a Portuguese sports club, best known for its association football section, founded in Torres Vedras in 1917, as Sport União Torreense. History It participated six times in the Portuguese Liga (last in 1991–92 ...

International career

Mateus was first called up for

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordinat ...

for the

2006 COSAFA Cup This page provides summaries to the 2006 COSAFA Cup. Format In the first round, 12 teams were divided into 3 groups of 4 teams each. Each group played a knockout tournament. The winners of each group joined Zimbabwe (holders) into the final round ...

in Lesotho. He scored on his debut on 29 April in a 5–1 win over

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

, and again the next day in a 3–1 victory against the hosts, as his team came runners-up to

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

. Later in 2006, Mateus was called up to that year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

, playing all three group stage matches including the entire 1–0 loss against

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 th ...

. He also added three substitute appearances in the

2008 Africa Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confeder ...

, as the ''Palancas Negras'' reached the quarter-finals. On 8 October 2011, Mateus scored as Angola won 2–0 away to

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

to pip

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

to a spot at the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football ...

. At the tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, he scored the first goal of their opening 2–1 defeat of

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana t ...

, but

Lito Vidigal José Carlos Fernandes Vidigal (born 11 July 1969), commonly known as Lito, is an Angolan professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He spent his entire playing career in Portugal, mainly with Belenenses in the P ...

's team were eliminated from the group. A year later, he started all three games as the team exited at the same stage. Mateus scored four times in

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championshi ...

, coming in braces in wins over

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

(4–1) and Burkina Faso (2–1). He captained the side at the finals in Egypt, falling again at the first hurdle. Mateus played his last match on 12 November 2021, a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

International goals

''Angola score listed first, score column indicates score after each Mateus goal.''

Honours

Angola *

COSAFA Cup The COSAFA Cup or COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been ...

runner-up:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mateus Galiano Da Costa 1984 births Living people Angolan men's footballers Footballers from Luanda Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players C.D. Beja players Sporting CP B players Casa Pia A.C. players F.C. Lixa players Gil Vicente F.C. players Boavista F.C. players C.D. Nacional players F.C. Arouca players F.C. Penafiel players S.C.U. Torreense players U.D. Leiria players Girabola players C.D. Primeiro de Agosto players Angola men's international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2012 Africa Cup of Nations players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Angolan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal