Bruno Martins Simão (born 5 May 1985) is a Portuguese former 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 played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He spent most of his career abroad, making 49 appearances with three clubs in Romania's

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

and also winning cups in Azerbaijan and Moldova, in addition to brief stints in Slovakia, Cyprus and France. Domestically, he totalled 68 games in

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super 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 ...

, where he represented four teams.

Club career

Simão was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. He had two stints at Benfica's youth system, where he played with

Ruben Amorim Ruben Filipe Marques Amorim (; born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese Professional association football, professional football Manager (association football), manager, a former player and the current manager of Premier League club Manchester Unit ...

and Pedro Russiano. Following the decision of club president

João Vale e Azevedo João António de Araújo Vale e Azevedo (born 17 May 1957) is a Portuguese former lawyer who was the 31st president of sports club S.L. Benfica. In relation to his three-year club presidency, he was convicted of embezzlement, document forge ...

of dissolving the club's underage teams, Simão moved on to

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

and

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

before returning to the ''Eagles'' reserves. After a brief spell in the Segunda Liga with Barreirense, he moved abroad for the first time to

UTA Arad Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad (), commonly known as UTA Arad or simply UTA (''Uzina Textilă Arad''; ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County that competes in the Liga I. The team was founded in 1945 ...

in Romania's

. Simão had further experience of the Eastern European country's top flight with

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

and

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club last based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spe ...

, with a year at Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia in between. In 2010, he signed for Khazar Lankaran of the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

, and won the cup in his only season. Moving on to

Milsami Orhei Fotbal Club Milsami Orhei, commonly known as Milsami Orhei or simply Milsami, is a Moldovan professional football club based in Orhei, Moldova, currently playing in the Liga, the top tier of Moldovan football. Previously known as ''FC Viito ...

of Moldova, Simão was again a

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

champion in his first campaign ( 2011–12), also picking up the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

that summer. After a brief stint in Cyprus with Doxa Katokopias without playing, he signed in September 2013 with Dacia Chișinău in the previous country. Simão's eight-year Eastern adventure ended in 2014 as he joined

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Está ...

in his country's third division, moving on to Oliveirense in

that July. Following a brief return to Leiria in July 2015, he signed for

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese sports club based in the parish of Alcântara, in the west side of Lisbon. The club was established on 18 September 1942 through the merger of two local clubs from Alcântara: Carcavelinhos Football ...

of division two. In August 2017, Simão headed abroad again to sign for Lusitanos Saint-Maur, a Portuguese-community team in France's fourth tier. He left soon after for Pinhalnovense in the Portuguese lower leagues, where he suffered a road accident that put him in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

for two days. Simão joined

Casa Pia The Casa Pia is a Portuguese institution founded by Maria I, known as ''A Pia'' ("Mary the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendant Pina Manique in 1780, following the social disarray of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. For almost three centurie ...

in July 2018, and was part of their squad that defeated Vilafranquense on penalties to win the third-division title. He was one of three players to be released halfway through the season in January 2020, dropping down a level to Torreense.

Personal life

Simão's younger brother,

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, was also a footballer, in the

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

position. Their cousin Amorim was also a player and manager.

Career statistics

Honours

Khazar Lankaran *

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup () is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Milsami *

Moldovan Cup Cupa Moldovei (), officially known as Cupa Orange Group, Orange for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football competition, held annually in Moldova. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round. Finals Th ...

: 2011–12 *

Moldovan Super Cup The Moldovan Super Cup () is the national football (soccer), football super cup competition in Moldova, officially having the winners of the previous season's Moldovan Liga and Moldovan Cup face-off against each other. In case when the national cu ...

: 2012 Casa Pia * Campeonato de Portugal: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simao, Bruno 1985 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football fullbacks Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players C.F. Os Belenenses players S.L. Benfica B players F.C. Barreirense players U.D. Leiria players U.D. Oliveirense players Atlético Clube de Portugal players C.D. Fátima players C.D. Pinhalnovense players Casa Pia A.C. players S.C.U. Torreense players Clube Oriental de Lisboa players Liga I players Liga II players FC UTA Arad players FC Dinamo București players FC Astra Giurgiu players Slovak First Football League players ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Azerbaijan Premier League players Khazar Lankaran FK players Moldovan Super Liga players FC Milsami Orhei players FC Dacia Chișinău players Doxa Katokopias FC players Championnat National 2 players US Lusitanos Saint-Maur players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France