Fábio Rafael Rodrigues Cardoso (born 19 April 1994) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Emirati club

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

, on loan from

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. Formed at Benfica, where he played only in the reserves, he made over 150

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 ...

appearances for Paços de Ferreira, Vitória Setúbal, Santa Clara and

. Abroad, he had a brief spell in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

with Rangers.

Club career

Benfica B

Born in

Águeda Águeda () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. According to the Portuguese 2011 census, the municipality of Águeda had 47,729 inhabitants, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 14,504 (2001 data), while the remainder is distri ...

Aveiro District Aveiro District (, ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality. Aveiro District is bordered by the Porto District to the north, ...

, Cardoso played as a youth for hometown club R.D. Águeda before joining S.L. Benfica in 2006. On 11 August 2012, he made his debut with Benfica B in a

2012–13 Segunda Liga The 2012–13 Segunda Liga was the 23rd season of the second-tier of football in Portugal. This season marked a series of changes in the league overall. The league's name was changed back to Segunda Liga from the previous Liga de Honra. A total o ...

match against Braga B where he played 84 minutes as a

centre 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 ...

, partnering with Lionel Carole. On 19 December, he had his only call-up to the first team under manager Jorge Jesus, as one of five new faces for a

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

group game at

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

; he was an unused substitute in the 2–1 win. He scored the only goal in a victory at Sporting B (0–1) on 5 January 2015. Six days later, he scored twice in a 3–2 win against Porto B. On 15 January 2015, Benfica announced Cardoso's loan to fellow

club Paços de Ferreira until the end of the season. The deal was subsequently repeated for the following campaign. In 42 total matches for the northern club, he scored once, the only goal of a win at Vitória de Guimarães on 13 March 2016.

Vitória de Setúbal

On 7 July 2016, Cardoso signed a four-year contract with

side Vitória de Setúbal. He made 27 total appearances in his only season, and scored in a 2–1 win over Santa Clara on 26 October to qualify the team to the group stage of the

Rangers

In June 2017, Cardoso signed for Rangers on a three-year contract for a reported fee of around £1.3 million. He made his debut for Rangers against Progrès Niederkorn in the

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 ...

on 29 June 2017. Cardoso was picked less frequently after the departure of compatriot manager Pedro Caixinha, and was released from his contract with Rangers on 30 July 2018.

Santa Clara

Cardoso joined Santa Clara on a four-year deal the day after leaving Rangers. On his second league appearance on 19 August 2018, he scored the equaliser as the Azorean side came from 3–0 down at half time to draw at home to

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

. The following 11 January, when his former team Benfica visited the Estádio de São Miguel, he made an error that allowed Haris Seferovic to score and was then sent off just before half time for a foul on Pizzi.

Porto

On 1 July 2021, Cardoso signed a five-year deal at

. He made his debut on 28 September in a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group game at home to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, due to a warm-up injury to Pepe; his team lost 5–1. His first season at the

Estádio do Dragão The Estádio do Dragão (; ') is an all-seater football stadium in Porto, Portugal, and the home ground of FC Porto since 2003. It has a seating capacity of 50,033, making it the third-largest football stadium in Portugal. Designed by Portugue ...

ended with a league and

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 ...

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, though he played under half of the league fixtures and was unused for the cup final win over Tondela.

Al Ain (loan)

On 14 August 2024, Cardoso signed with

in UAE, on loan.

International career

Cardoso represented Portugal at the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. Cardoso also represented Portugal at Under-20 level during the

2014 Toulon Tournament The 2014 Toulon Tournament was the 42nd edition of the Toulon Tournament. The competition took place between 21 May and 1 June 2014 mostly in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of South Eastern France. Brazil national under-20 football team, B ...

. Uncapped, Cardoso was named in the 55-man preliminary

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar. However, he didn't make the final cut.

Career statistics

Honours

Porto *

: 2021–22 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de 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 Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 *

: 2022–23

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Porto website * *
National team data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardoso, Fabio 1994 births Living people People from Águeda Footballers from Aveiro District Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Scottish Professional Football League players UAE Pro League players S.L. Benfica B players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Vitória F.C. players Rangers F.C. players C.D. Santa Clara players FC Porto players Al Ain FC players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen