André Luís Gomes Simões (; born 16 December 1989) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Leixões The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinh ...

. After starting out at

Padroense Padroense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese football club that competes in the Portuguese Second Division. They were founded in 1922. History The first field of Padroense F.C. was the "Saibreira" before moving to the "stray field" (what is now High ...

, he spent the better part of his career in Greece with

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

, making 227 competitive appearances and winning the 2017–18 Super League. In his country's

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

, he represented

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim d ...

and Famalicão.

Club career

Portugal

Born in

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

, Simões played with three clubs as a youth, including

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

from ages 8 to 14. He first appeared as a senior for Padroense FC, competing two seasons in the third division and one in

the fourth ''The Fourth'' () is a 1972 Soviet drama film directed by Aleksandr Stolper. The film tells the story of an American journalist who has to make a difficult choice: publicize the plans of supporters of the war after having lost all his life's ben ...

. In summer 2011, Simões signed with C.D. Santa Clara of the Segunda Liga. He played 39 games and scored once in his

second year The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

, helping the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

team to finish in 11th position. Simões joined fellow second-tier side Moreirense F.C. in late June 2013, helping to a

return Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or t ...

to the

after one year by contributing two goals and nearly 2,800 minutes of action. He made his debut in the Portuguese top flight on 17 August 2014, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away win against C.D. Nacional.

AEK Athens

On 30 January 2015, before the campaign was over, Simões agreed to a two-year contract with

AEK Athens F.C. A.E.K. Football Club (), known simply as A.E.K. (; ) in Greece and AEK Athens internationally, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica, Greece. Established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the ...

which was made effective on 1 July. On 19 March 2016, he agreed to an extension until 30 June 2019, with a buy-out clause of €7.5 million. On 10 December of that year, he scored his first goal in a 4–0 home victory over

Levadiakos F.C. Levadiakos Football Club (officially romanized: ''Levadeiakos'' ) is a Greek professional Association football, football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Super League Greece, Alp ...

in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

. On 24 August 2017, Simões helped his team defeat

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional Association football, football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capac ...

in the second leg of the play-off round of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, netting twice and winning a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in the 3–0 home win. On 26 November 2018, however, following a league defeat to Panetolikos FC, AEK owner

Dimitris Melissanidis Dimitris Melissanidis (; born 8 March 1951) is a Greek business shipping and oil tycoon, and one of the country's leading businessmen. Melissanidis is in the top ten rich list of Greek entrepreneurs ranking in 6th place. He is most known for his ...

engaged in a heated conversation with three players, ostracising

Anastasios Bakasetas Anastasios "Tasos" Bakasetas (; born 28 June 1993) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Super League club Panathinaikos and captains the Greece national team. Club career Asteras Tripolis Bakasetas came ...

, Vasilios Lampropoulos and Simões from the team; in his press-conference ahead of the upcoming UEFA Champions League game against

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

, head coach Marinos Ouzounidis all but confirmed that the trio had ceased to be part of his plans.

Famalicão

Simões returned to Portugal in June 2022, signing a three-year deal at top-flight

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tie ...

. He made just 14 competitive appearances in his only season.

Later career

On 1 September 2023, Simões was loaned to his former club

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...

for the upcoming second-division campaign. In July 2024, he agreed to a permanent one-year contract.

Career statistics

Honours

Moreirense * Segunda Liga: 2013–14 AEK Athens *

: 2017–18 *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2015–16 Individual * Super League Greece Team of the Season: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simoes, Andre 1989 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Matosinhos Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Padroense F.C. players C.D. Santa Clara players Moreirense F.C. players F.C. Famalicão players Leixões S.C. players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece