Matheus Leite Nascimento (born 15 January 1983), known simply as Matheus, is a Brazilian former

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal with

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 ...

and in Ukraine with

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

, appearing in 154 competitive games with the second club (48 goals).

Club career

Early years and Braga

Matheus was born in

Ribeirópolis Ribeirópolis () is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Sergipe. Its population was 18,773 (2020) and its area is 262 km2.IBGE - See also * List of municipalities in Sergipe This is a list of the municipalities in the state ...

Sergipe Sergipe (), officially State of Sergipe, is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil. Located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region along the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the country, Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil by geogra ...

. After starting professionally with lowly

Associação Olímpica de Itabaiana Associação Olímpica de Itabaiana, commonly referred to as Itabaiana, is a Brazilian professional club based in Itabaiana, Sergipe founded on 10 July 1938. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian footb ...

, he moved to Portugal in summer 2005, with

Liga de Honra 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 ...

team

F.C. Marco Futebol Clube do Marco was a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football team based in Marco de Canaveses Municipality, Marco de Canaveses, Porto District. Founded in 1927, it held home games at ''Estádio Municipal do Marco de Canaveses, ...

. In January of the following year, however, he was bought by

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 ...

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

, making four appearances in his first season. During the year 2007, encompassing both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 campaigns, Matheus served two loans: in January 2007 he joined

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Ave ...

, appearing from August–December with

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

and being subsequently recalled by his parent club. In 2009–10, Matheus played all 30 league matches – but rarely as a starter – as Braga finished in a best-ever second place behind

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

. He contributed five goals, in 1,142 minutes of action. Matheus started the following season with major contributions: on 28 July, he scored from a 35-meter

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

to close the score against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

(3–0 at home), as his team progressed to the next

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 ...

qualifying round ( 4–2 on aggregate). On 13 August, in the league opener against

Portimonense SC Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football ...

, he started and opened the scoring in an eventual 3–1 home win. Five days later, again for the Champions League, he scored the game's only goal in a home victory over

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

– in celebrating the goal, he pulled out a pacifier and put it in his mouth– and netted the first in the second leg in

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, in a 4–3 win (5–3 on aggregate). On 23 November 2010, Matheus scored twice in the dying minutes of the 2–0 Champions League home defeat of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, although Braga would eventually fail to reach the knockout stages of the competition, finishing third in their group.

Dnipro

In January 2011, the 28-year-old Matheus signed for

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro (, ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club played its last season in the 2018–19 Ukrainian Amateur League. The club was owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2018, FC Dnipro was forced ...

in Ukraine, for

€ 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 ...

1 million. He finished his first full season with seven goals from 23 appearances, helping his team to the fourth position. On 15 April 2014, he netted four times in their 5–1 home win against

FC Volyn Lutsk FC Volyn Lutsk ( ) was a Ukrainian association football, football club based in Lutsk. Since its establishment in 1960, the club became the only major (professional) football club within Volyn Oblast and uncontested leader of football in the reg ...

. During the

2015 UEFA Europa League Final The 2015 UEFA Europa League final was the final match of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Eu ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Matheus collapsed on the field of play in the late stages of the team's 3–2 loss to Sevilla. Manager

Myron Markevych Myron Bohdanovych Markevych (; born 1 February 1951) is a Ukrainian association football, football manager and former player who manages FC Karpaty Lviv, Karpaty Lviv. He has worked as a manager in the Ukrainian Premier League and for the Ukrai ...

confirmed that he had been treated at hospital for a nasal fracture and a head injury, being discharged in good health hours later to reunite with his teammates.

China

On 12 June 2016, Matheus was supposed to join

Super League Greece 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 ...

club

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

on a free transfer, signing alongside teammates Léo Matos and Evhen Shakhov. However, the deal fell through and he moved to Shijiazhuang Ever Bright F.C. instead, on a two-year contract. Relegated in his first season, Matheus remained with the side in

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

, winning promotion back to the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. The following 11 September, on his 100th competitive game, he scored a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

for the only goal at home to Wuhan Zall FC. Matheus left five years later as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, but continued in the country with second-tier Zhejiang Professional FC. He earned another promotion at the end of the 2021 campaign.

Later career

On 24 January 2023, aged 40, Matheus returned to Itabaiana after eighteen years. He changed clubs again only three months later, signing for

Club Sportivo Sergipe Club Sportivo Sergipe, or Sergipe as they are usually called, is a Brazilian football team from Aracaju, the second-oldest club in the state of Sergipe, founded on 17 October 1909. Club Sportivo Sergipe is the only team from Sergipe to have pla ...

in the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série D The Campeonato Brasileiro Série D (English: Brazilian Championship Serie D), commonly known as the Série D or the Brazilian Série D to distinguish it from the Italian Serie D, is the fourth division of the Brazilian football league system, and ...

International career

In March 2013, after more than two years of living in the country, Matheus indicated that he would be likely to accept a call-up for the Ukraine national team if asked.

Career statistics

Honours

Braga *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

UEFA 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 ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Dnipro *UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2014–15 Individual *

Most Valuable Player:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

Brazilian FA database
* *
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheus 1983 births Living people 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Sergipe Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série D players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players F.C. Marco players S.C. Braga players S.C. Beira-Mar players Vitória F.C. players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Dnipro players Chinese Super League players China League One players Cangzhou Mighty Lions F.C. players Zhejiang Professional F.C. players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China