Marco Filipe Lopes Paixão (born 19 September 1984) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Turkish club Şanlıurfaspor.

Club career

Early career

Born in Sesimbra, Setúbal District, Paixão spent his early career in Portugal and Spain, playing with lowly teams in both countries – his hometown's

G.D. Sesimbra Grupo Desportivo de Sesimbra (founded on 10 August 1947) is a Portugal, Portuguese sports club from Sesimbra, Setúbal District, Setúbal, best known for its association football, football and Rink Hockey teams. The club was formed with the union ...

, FC Porto B,

CD Guijuelo Club Deportivo Guijuelo is a Spanish football team based in Guijuelo, Province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1974 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at the 1,500-seat ...

Logroñés CF Logroñés Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 2000 and dissolved in 2008 it held home games at '' Estadio Las Gaunas'', with a capacity of 16,000 spectators. Histo ...

and Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa. In 2007–08, he suffered relegation from

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

with Logroñés, and in the following season scored 13 goals for Leonesa.

Hamilton Academical

Paixão's first taste of professional football came in 2009 as he signed for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club Hamilton Academical on 6 August, alongside twin brother Flávio. He made his league debut late in the month, against Aberdeen. On 11 April 2011, it was announced that Paixão would leave at the end of the campaign. However, just three days later, he was released from his contract with immediate effect, alongside his sibling. He appeared in 56 official matches for the Accies, scoring six goals.

Naft Tehran

On 5 January 2012, Paixão joined his brother in Iran after signing with Naft Tehran F.C. until the end of the season. He made his debut in a 3–1 home loss against Foolad F.C. five days later, scoring his first goal in a 1–0 win over Malavan F.C. on 8 February.

Ethnikos and Poland

In the summer of 2012, Paixão joined

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: ** Armenian Cypriots ** Greek Cypriots ** Maronite Cypriots ** Tur ...

side Ethnikos Achna FC. He netted his first goal for his new club on 3 November, in a 1–1 draw at AEL Limassol. In June 2013, Paixão signed a two-year contract with Śląsk Wrocław in Poland. He scored a career-best 21 goals in 2013–14, but his team could only qualify for the relegation play-offs. In June 2015, Paixão put pen to paper to a two-year deal at AC Sparta Prague. The following January, after being barely used by the Czech club, he returned to the Ekstraklasa with

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

after agreeing to a two-and-a-half-year contract; his twin joined him a month later. Paixão concluded the 2016–17 season with hat-tricks in 4–0 home wins over Jagiellonia Białystok and Pogoń Szczecin. This brought his final tally to 18, joint with

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

's Marcin Robak as the top scorer. In March 2018, Paixão was removed from the first team when manager

Piotr Stokowiec Piotr Stokowiec (born 25 May 1972) is a Polish football manager and former player. On 5 March 2018, he became the manager of Lechia Gdańsk. On 21 December 2021, he returned to Zagłębie Lubin, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with his ...

accused him of feigning an injury, and when his contract expired in June, he moved to

Altay S.K. Altay Spor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in the city of İzmir. Formed in 1914, Altay are nicknamed ''Büyük Altay'' (Great Altay). The club colors are black and white, and they currently play their home matches at the ...

in the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

. He was top scorer in his first season with the İzmir-based team, netting 29 times in 33 games. In December 2023 Paixão signed for Şanlıurfaspor also of the Turkish second tier, with effect from January 2024.

International career

During their spell in Poland, both Paixão and his sibling were repeatedly poised to be called up to the Portugal national team, but nothing came of it.

Personal life

Paixão's twin brother Flávio was also a footballer, Marco being the older by five minutes.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual * Ekstraklasa top scorer: 2016–17 (18 goals, joint with Marcin Robak) *

top scorer: 2018–19 (29 goals), 2019–20 (22 goals)

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

(22 goals) 2022–23 (21 goals)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paixao, Marco 1984 births Living people People from Sesimbra Portuguese twins Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Setúbal District Men's association football forwards Segunda Divisão players G.D. Sesimbra footballers FC Porto B players Segunda División B players CD Guijuelo footballers Logroñés CF footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Scottish Premier League players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Persian Gulf Pro League players Naft Tehran F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Ethnikos Achna FC players Ekstraklasa players Śląsk Wrocław players Lechia Gdańsk players Czech First League players AC Sparta Prague players Süper Lig players TFF First League players Altay S.K. footballers Şanlıurfaspor footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Iran Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Poland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey