Márcio Daniel Ribeiro de Sousa (born 23 March 1986) 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 le ...

who plays for «Os Sandinenses» Grupo Desportivo Recreativo e Cultural as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

. He amassed

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG 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 Prim ...

totals of 110 matches and four goals over six seasons, mainly with Tondela (three years). He spent the rest of his career in the lower leagues. Sousa was a youth international for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, notably winning the European Under-17 Championship.

Club career

Born in the village of Sande (São Clemente) in

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

, Sousa moved to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

's youth system at the age of 16 alongside

Rabiola Tiago André Coelho Lopes (born 25 July 1989), known as Rabiola, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Rabiola was born in Guimarães. A product of Vitória de Guimarães' youth system, he made his ...

and

Vieirinha Adelino André Vieira de Freitas (born 24 January 1986), known as Vieirinha (), is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger or a full-back for Greek club PAOK, for which he is captain. Ambidextrous, he started playing for ...

, in a deal that sent Brazilian

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Rafael in the opposite direction. On 17 December 2003, he was called by first-team coach

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

for a

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

match against

F.C. Maia Futebol Clube da Maia is a Portuguese football club based in Maia, Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto. Founded on 4 April 1954, it currently plays in the Porto Regional League, holding home matches at the Estádio Professor Doutor Vieira de Carv ...

, but eventually did not leave the bench, subsequently returning to the juniors. After being released by Porto in June 2007, Sousa played several seasons in the lower divisions of his country. Prior to that, he competed in the second level on loan, with

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã, is Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the second-tier Liga Portugal 2. The club was founded in 1923. Their nickname is the ...

and

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese football club based in Vizela, Braga District. Founded in 1939, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal Bwin, holding home games at the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Vizela, with a capacity for 6,100 spect ...

. In July 2010, Sousa signed for

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

, scoring nine times in 32 games in his second year as they promoted to the second tier for the first time ever. He made his league debut with the club on 12 August 2012 in a 2–2 home draw against

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

, and scored his first goal on 23 September to help the hosts defeat

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, is a Portuguese football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it plays in the Division of Honour in the Coimbra Football Associ ...

3–1. Having been deemed surplus to requirements, Sousa joined

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

also in that division in the summer of 2015. He found the net in the last matchday against

Gil Vicente FC Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

, but the 3–2 away win amounted to nothing as the team finished in 20th position and were relegated. Until the end of his retirement, Sousa competed exclusively in the lower leagues or amateur football. Early in his career, he earned the nickname ''

Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

''.

International career

Sousa helped Portugal under-17s win their fifth title in the category in the 2003 UEFA European Championship held on home soil, scoring twice – both goals came in the final against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. He also helped the team reach the quarter-finals in that year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

in Finland, netting once. In 2004, Sousa played for the under-19 side in the 2005 European Championship qualifiers, scoring against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, but the country failed to ensure a place in the finals in Northern Ireland.

Club statistics

Honours

Club

Tondela * Segunda Liga: 2014–15

International

Portugal *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Marcio 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Guimarães Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players FC Porto B players FC Porto players S.C. Covilhã players F.C. Vizela players F.C. Penafiel players C.D. Tondela players S.C. Farense players G.D.R.C. Os Sandinenses players Portugal youth international footballers