Mário Jorge Quintas Felgueiras (born 12 December 1986) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, currently sporting director at

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club Universitatea Craiova. He started playing for Sporting, Portimonense and

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 ...

, being successively loaned by the first and third clubs and only totalling one

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 for them. From 2011 until 2015 he competed in Romania, mainly with

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

. Felgueiras won 42

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

at youth level.

Club career

Sporting and Portimonense

Born in

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a concelho, municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo District, Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2021 was 85,778, in an area of . The urbanized are ...

, Felgueiras joined

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

's youth system in 2002 at the age of 15, from local

SC Vianense Sport Clube Vianense, commonly known as Vianense, is a Portuguese football club based in Viana do Castelo in the district of Viana do Castelo. SC Vianense currently plays in the Liga 3. The club was founded in 1898 and is one of the oldest cl ...

. In early 2003, following an injury to regular starter

Nélson Pereira Nélson Alexandre Gomes Pereira, known simply as Nélson (, born 20 October 1975), is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Nélson was born in Torres Vedras, Lisbon District. He started his footba ...

, he was called to the first team for training, but he only managed to be called up for a competitive game during his tenure, remaining an unused substitute against Gil Vicente F.C. on 29 August 2004. In summer 2005, Felgueiras was loaned to S.C. Espinho in the third division for two years, being first choice in his second season. Subsequently, he was released by the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

side, signing a two-year contract with Portimonense S.C. in the Segunda Liga. He kept consecutive

clean sheets In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in his first two official matches with his new club.

Braga

For the 2008–09 campaign, Felgueiras returned to the

, joining S.C. Braga 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 ...

on a 4+1 deal. He only appeared in one game in his first year, ten minutes of a 1–1 draw at league champions

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), 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 association footbal ...

in the last matchday. In 2009–10, Felgueiras was loaned to another top flight club, Vitória de Setúbal. In July 2010 he returned to Braga, appearing in both legs of the 4–2 aggregate win 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 ...

in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

of the

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 ...

. However, he was soon deemed surplus to requirements and made way for another Brazilian ( Felipe, the 17th in the squad), leaving for Rio Ave F.C. until the end of the season– his official debut came in the league opener, a 0–1 home loss against C.D. Nacional.

Romania

Felgueiras was loaned by Braga to Romanian club FC Brașov for the 2011–12 campaign. The following year, after cutting all ties with the former, he agreed to a four-year contract with

also in

, making his debut in the competition with his new team on 5 August in 3–0 home victory over

FC Vaslui Fotbal Club Vaslui, commonly known as FC Vaslui, or simply as Vaslui (), was a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and dissolved in 2014. Its official club colours were yellow and green, hence t ...

. On 19 September 2012, Felgueiras put on a ''

Player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

'' performance against former side Braga, in a 2–0 Champions League group stage away win, being subsequently selected for the Team of the Round. In the same competition, he was also in goal to help to a 1–0 defeat of

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, being subsequently linked to

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

's Everton as a backup to

Tim Howard Timothy Matthew Howard (born March 6, 1979) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the part-owner of club Dagenham & Redbridge as well as an international ambassador in the United States for Premie ...

and commenting: "Any player would be interested in playing in the Premier League. I am very happy to hear about Everton's interest, but I will only think about leaving at the end of the season"; he also claimed that Portugal manager

Paulo Bento Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento (; born 20 June 1969) is a Portuguese Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder with tackling ability and workrate ...

"has been paying attention" to his performance, and that Sporting and

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 " ...

had reportedly shown interest in acquiring his services. Felgueiras received the first

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or di ...

of his Romanian career (second overall) on 27 July 2013, in a 2–2 home draw against

ACS Poli Timișoara Asociația Club Sportiv Poli Timișoara (), commonly known as ACS Poli Timișoara, Poli Timișoara or simply ACS Poli, was a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Timișoara, Timiș County. The team was founded in 2012, the ye ...

. In November, as Cluj was facing a financial crisis, he and other players boycotted a league match; in total, he appeared in 100 games for the club in all competitions.

Konyaspor

On 2 February 2015, Felgueiras signed for Turkey's

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

for three and a half years and

€ 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 ...

800.000. He made his debut ten days later, in a

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 ...

match against Galatasaray SK which ended with a 4–1 away loss.

Later years

Felgueiras returned to Portugal on 1 February 2016, joining F.C. Paços de Ferreira until 30 June 2017. He made 20 appearances in 2017–18, in a top-flight relegation. After an unassuming spell in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

with

Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. Anorthosis Famagusta (), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Famagusta multi-sport club founded in 1911 in Varosha, Famagusta.

, Felgueiras returned to his homeland and signed with his former club Espinho at the end of August 2019. However, two weeks later, the 32-year-old announced that he was retiring from football for personal reasons.

International career

On 8 February 2005, still a junior, Felgueiras made his first and only appearance for the Portugal under-21 team, playing 13 minutes in a 2–0 friendly win over the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Club 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 ...

CFR Cluj *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

runner-up: 2012–13 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

runner-up:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Portugal U17 *

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

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Portugal U20 *

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

third place:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Felgueiras, Mario 1986 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Espinho players Portimonense S.C. players S.C. Braga players Vitória F.C. players Rio Ave F.C. players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Liga I players FC Brașov (1936) players CFR Cluj players Konyaspor footballers Anorthosis Famagusta FC players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Footballers from Viana do Castelo District 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen