Hélder Bruno Macedo Sousa (born 13 October 1977) 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

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 ...

Club career

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 ...

, Sousa started his career with amateurs Padroense F.C. in 1997. In his country, in which he competed almost exclusively in the

second 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 U ...

and third divisions, he also represented C.D. Trofense (two spells), S.C. Braga's reserves, A.D. Ovarense,

Gondomar SC Gondomar Sport Club is a Portuguese football club based in Gondomar, Porto District. Founded on 1 May 1921, it currently plays in the fourth-tier Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio de São Miguel'', with a capacity of 2. ...

C.D. Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese association football, football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of football in ...

and

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese professional association football, football club that plays in Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Vizela and play in the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Viz ...

. On 15 September 2002, whilst with Braga, he made his only

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 ...

appearance, which consisted of 20 minutes as a starter in a 2–0 away loss against

Varzim SC Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

. In the summer of 2010, aged nearly 33, Sousa moved abroad for the first time, joining Cypriot club

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia (, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a Cypriot football club based in Nicosia and competes in the . The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the Cyprus Football Association. The club colors are black and green. ...

. On 10 January 2012 he signed an 18-month contract with fellow

First Division 1st Division or First 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 Armoure ...

team

APOEL FC APOEL FC (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a Cypriot professio ...

, for a transfer fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

90,000. He made his official debut six days later, playing 23 minutes in a 0–0 home draw with his former employers. Sousa made his

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 ...

debut on 14 February 2012 at the age of 34, featuring 72 minutes in a 1–0 defeat at

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. He added a further two appearances, as the side reached the quarter-finals for the first time ever. On 29 January 2013, Sousa's contract with APOEL was terminated by mutual consent. The following day, he returned to his homeland and signed for two years with former club Trofense. Sousa played well into his 40s, always in lower-league or amateur football.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Helder 1977 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Matosinhos Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Padroense F.C. players C.D. Trofense players S.C. Braga B players S.C. Braga players A.D. Ovarense players Gondomar S.C. players C.D. Feirense players F.C. Vizela players F.C. Pedras Rubras players Merelinense F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Olympiakos Nicosia players APOEL FC players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus