Ricardo de Sousa Esgaio (; born 16 May 1993) 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 for

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 ...

as a

right-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 ...

Club career

Sporting CP

Born in Nazaré,

Leiria District The District of Leiria ( pt, Distrito de Leiria ) is a district located in Centro region of Portugal, divided between the traditional provinces of Beira Litoral and Estremadura. It borders on the north with district of Coimbra, on the east with ...

, Esgaio joined

's youth system at the age of 12, having signed from local Grupo Desportivo os Nazarenos. On 14 December 2011 he was called for a

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. ...

group stage game away against S.S. Lazio, alongside youth graduates Betinho, Tiago Ilori, João Carlos and João Mário, as the ''Lions'' had already secured the first place in their group; he remained an unused substitute in the 2–0 loss. On 11 August 2012, Esgaio made his senior debut with the reserves 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 ...

, playing 80 minutes in a 1–0 defeat at

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Es ...

. He scored his first goal with the side the following matchday, the only in the home fixture against Vitória S.C. B; in his early career, he was mainly deployed as a

right winger 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 ...

. Esgaio made his first official appearance with Sporting's main squad on 7 December 2012, starting against

Videoton FC Videoton may refer to: * Videoton (company), Hungarian electronics company *Fehérvár FC, formerly known as Videoton FC, Hungarian football club See also *Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable ...

in the last round of the Europa League group stage as the team were already eliminated from knockout stage contention, and featuring the entire 2–1 home win. He made his Primeira Liga debut on 5 January of the following year, playing the last minute of a 0–1 home loss to

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

. On 6 November 2013, back in the reserves, he netted a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 4–0 defeat of G.D. Chaves. On 27 January 2015, both Esgaio and Sporting teammate

Salim Cissé Salim Cissé (born 24 December 1992) is a Guinean footballer who plays for Maltese club Marsaxlokk as a forward. Club career Early years Born in Conakry, Cissé started playing football when he was already 18. He moved to Italy with his parent ...

were loaned to fellow league club Académica de Coimbra until the end of the season.

Braga

On 17 June 2017, after only 44 competitive matches for Sporting in five years, Esgaio signed a five-year contract 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 ...

as Rodrigo Battaglia moved in the opposite direction. In his third match for his new team, away to C.D. Aves on 20 August, he came on as a last-minute substitute and scored his first goal in the top flight to seal a 2–0 victory. Esgaio played seven games in the side's victorious run in 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 the full 90 minutes in the final against

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 ...

(2–0). In the last-16, he contributed one goal to the 5–0 rout of S.C.U. Torreense on 13 January 2021.

Return to Sporting

On 3 July 2021, Esgaio returned to Sporting on a five-year deal, for a

€ 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 ...

5,5 million fee with a €45 million buyout clause.

International career

Esgaio won 91

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for Portugal at youth level. He was first choice for the under-21s at the 2015 UEFA European Championship, helping to a runner-up finish in the Czech Republic.

Personal life

Esgaio's younger brother, Tiago, is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 2014–15 * Taça da Liga: 2021–22 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

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 ...

Braga *Taça de Portugal: 2020–21 *Taça da Liga: 2019–20 Portugal U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

runner-up: 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esgaio, Ricardo 1993 births Living people People from Nazaré, Portugal Sportspeople from Leiria District Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Association football wingers Association football utility players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Sporting CP footballers Sporting CP B players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players S.C. Braga players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Portugal