Ricardo Jorge Tavares Machado (born 13 September 1988) 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 Al-Sahel SC (Saudi Arabia) as a centre-back.

Club career

Portugal

Born in

Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; cel-x-proto, Cale), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a population ...

Porto District The District of Porto ( pt, Distrito do Porto ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro and Viseu districts to the south, Br ...

, Machado spent the vast majority of his youth career with local S.C. Dragões Sandinenses. He made his debut as a senior in 2007 with A.D. Machico in the third division, signing with fellow league team C.S. Marítimo B after one season. In the summer of 2010, Machado was loaned by

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 Lig ...

to C.D. Feirense of the Segunda Liga. He appeared in his first game as a professional on 12 September, starting in a 2–2 away draw against F.C. Arouca.

Romania

Machado competed in Romania and its

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

the following years, starting out at FC Brașov. On 13 February 2015, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with FC Dinamo București of the same league. Machado's first top-flight match occurred on 31 October 2011 while at the service of the former club, when he played the entire 1–2 home loss to

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...

. His first goal was scored the following 4 May, helping the hosts defeat

CSU Voința Sibiu CSU Voința Sibiu was a Romanian football team from Sibiu, Sibiu County, founded in 1965 and dissolved in the autumn of 2012. In the summer of 2007, to continue the football tradition of Sibiu after the dissolution of Inter Sibiu in 2001 and FC ...

3–0. In the 2012–13 campaign, Machado scored a career-best five goals for Brașov, helping the side to the seventh position.

Al Taawoun

Machado joined

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

's Al Taawoun FC in 2015. On 5 December 2017, he agreed to a two-year extension. In July 2020, Machado announced his decision to leave, citing a "need for a new challenge".

Later years

On 25 January 2021, aged 32, Machado returned to Portugal and its second tier by joining F.C. Penafiel on a short-term deal. After several months of inactivity, he signed with

Académico de Viseu F.C. Académico de Viseu Futebol Clube is a Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Viseu. Founded in 1914 as ''Clube Académico de Futebol'', the club went through several changes over the course of the years, f ...

in the same level, reuniting with manager Pedro Ribeiro. Machado moved back to Saudi Arabia in July 2022, with

Al-Sahel SC Al-Sahel Sports Club ( ar, نادي الساحل الرياضي) is a Syrian professional multi-sports club based in Tartus, mostly known for its football team that competes in the Syrian League 1st Division. History Club's women's basketball ...

of the

First Division League 1st Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) *1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions * 1st Armoured Division (Austra ...

Honours

Al Taawoun * Kings Cup:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Ricardo 1988 births Living people Footballers from Vila Nova de Gaia Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.C. Dragões Sandinenses players C.S. Marítimo players C.D. Feirense players F.C. Penafiel players Académico de Viseu F.C. players Liga I players FC Brașov (1936) players FC Dinamo București players Saudi Professional League players Saudi First Division League players Al Taawoun FC players Al-Sahel SC (Saudi Arabia) players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia