Clésio Palmirim David Baúque (born 11 October 1994), known simply as Clésio, is a Mozambican 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 winger for Emirati side Al Arabi and the Mozambique national team.

Club career

Benfica

Born in

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, Clésio started with Ferroviário and after becoming the top scorer of

Moçambola Moçambola (or Campeonato Moçambicano de Futebol, Portuguese for Mozambican Football Championship) is the top division of Mozambican football. It is organized by the Liga Moçambicana de Futebol. History In 1976, shortly after the country's ...

with 6 goals, he signed for Benfica in September 2012, joining the Portuguese club in January 2013. Before joining Benfica, he claimed to be inspired to follow in the footsteps of

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...

. He was assigned to the under-19 side, playing nine matches and scoring twice. On 14 March 2014, Clésio was loaned to American club

Harrisburg City Islanders Harrisburg City Islanders, known as Penn FC in their final season, were an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the ...

, a team competing in the

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

, the third tier of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by a system o ...

. He made his debut on 6 April, in an away draw against the

Wilmington Hammerheads Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017. Histor ...

, and scored his first goal on 17 May, bagging a double within five minutes to give the City Islanders the lead over

Dayton Dutch Lions The Dayton Dutch Lions are an American soccer team based in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 2009, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. From 2011 to 2014, the team played in the USL Professiona ...

. On 12 June, he added another goal and helped his team beat the

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1998 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American ...

, to win their first league game in four match-days. On 24 August, he netted a double in a 2–2 draw with

Rochester Rhinos Rochester Rhinos, formerly known as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, was an American soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. The club won the 1999 U.S. Open Cup, marking the only time a non-MLS team has won the U.S. Open Cup sinc ...

, increasing his goal tally to five. It would be his last match for the City Islanders, having started 9 games in 20 appearances in total throughout their

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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. After returning to Benfica, the 20-year old moved to the Benfica B in the Segunda Liga, making his debut on 1 February 2015, replacing Nuno Santos on the 87th minute of a home loss with

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 ...

. On 24 May 2015, Clésio scored his first goal for Benfica B in a home win against Vitória de Guimarães B. His goal was an individual effort where he dribble past several players and finished in front of Miguel Oliveira. In 2015–16, he remained in the B-team, playing four times in nine match-days. However, after

Nélson Semedo Nélson Cabral Semedo (born 16 November 1993) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, right-back or right wing-back for club Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverha ...

injury, Rui Vitória promoted him to the first team and converted him to play right-back against

Tondela Tondela () is a concelho, municipality in the Centro, Portugal, central Portugal, Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km2. History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carv ...

on 30 October. It would be his sole appearance for the main team, as he was immediately demoted back to the reserves.

Panetolikos

On 30 January 2016, Clésio moved to

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrini ...

, penning a three-year deal with the Greek-side. He made his

Greek Superleague 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 ...

debut on 8 February 2016 in an away game against

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

Gabala

On 10 July 2019, Clésio signed a one-year contract with Azerbaijani club Gabala.

Zira

On 18 July 2020, Zira announced the signing of Clésio.

Honka

On 28 February 2023, Clésio signed a multi-year contract with Honka in Finland. After the season, Honka was suddenly declared for bankruptcy, and Clésio was released.

Gabala SC

On 9 January 2024, Clésio returned to Azerbaijan and re-signed with Gabala on a 2.5-year contract. On 27 May 2024, Gabala announced that Clésio and five others had left the club with their contracts expiring.

International

At the youth level he played in the

2013 COSAFA U-20 Cup The 2013 COSAFA U-20 Cup was the 22nd edition of the COSAFA U-20 Challenge Cup, an international youth competition open to national associations of the COSAFA region. It was the first time since 2011 that the competition took place, as the 2012 ev ...

. Clésio made his senior international debut for Mozambique on 15 November 2011 against

Comoros The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, ...

during the first round of

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

. In the match, he also scored his first international goal, the fourth goal of the 4–1 victory. He was also part of Mozambique's squad during

2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification was the qualification process for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, the 29th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. South Africa automatically qualified as the host country. Qualified nation ...

Career statistics

Club

GSA profile
/ref>

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mozambique's goal tally first.''

Honours

Benfica *

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 ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

Profile at SoccerPunter
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clesio 1994 births Footballers from Maputo Living people Men's association football forwards Mozambican men's footballers 21st-century Mozambican sportsmen Mozambique men's under-20 international footballers Mozambique men's international footballers Clube Ferroviário de Maputo footballers S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers Penn FC players Panetolikos F.C. players İstanbulspor footballers Gabala SC players Zira FK players C.S. Marítimo players FC Honka players Al-Arabi SC (UAE) players USL Championship players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Super League Greece players TFF 1. Lig players Azerbaijan Premier League players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Veikkausliiga players UAE First Division League players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players Mozambican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates