Paulo Sérgio Moreira Gonçalves (born 24 January 1984), known as Paulo Sérgio, is a Portuguese 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 162 matches and 13 goals over eight seasons, appearing in the competition for Académica,

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD (), sometimes just Estrela da Amadora, is a Portuguese professional sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. The team is currently competing in the Primeira Liga, after winnin ...

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

, Vitória de Guimarães and Arouca. He also played professionally in Spain, Cyprus, Singapore and Indonesia, winning the

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as the SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), wh ...

with DPMM and repeating the feat in Liga 1 with Bhayangkara and

Bali United Bali United Football Club (; , ''æklub’ sépak bola Bali United'') is a professional football club based in Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top tier of Indonesian football. Bali United emerged in 2015 as the ...

. Paulo Sérgio finished second at the 2003 European Under-19 Championship with

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 ...

, being the tournament's top scorer.

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Paulo Sérgio started his career at local

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,

, but never appeared in the

with the first team. In April 2003, 10% of his economic rights were sold to an

investment fund An investment fund is a way of investment, investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These ad ...

along with other youth products, and he would be loaned several times in the following years, for example spending two seasons with

neighbours

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

; on 25 November 2004, before leaving for the latter club, he appeared for the ''Lions'' in a 4–0 win at

FC Dinamo Tbilisi FC Dinamo Tbilisi ( ka, დინამო თბილისი, ) is a Georgian professional football club based in Tbilisi that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top flight of Georgian football. Dinamo Tbilisi was one of the most prom ...

in that season's

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Roudolphe Douala Roudolphe Douala M'bela (born 25 September 1978), known as Douala, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer. Mainly a winger he could also operate as a forward, and played professionally in five countries, mainly in Portugal. He amas ...

in the 65th minute. After one season with Portimonense S.C. of the Segunda Liga, Paulo Sérgio was released by Sporting and signed for Spanish side

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

. He appeared in roughly half of the games during the campaign, as the

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

team finished ninth in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. Paulo Sérgio returned to his country and

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

in summer 2009, joining

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

who had just promoted to the top flight and being regularly played over the course of two seasons as the club managed to consecutively retain its status. On 17 September 2010, he scored in the 2–0 home victory over his former employers Portimonense, the first of two official goals during his tenure. In the following years, Paulo Sérgio represented in quick succession Vitória de Guimarães,

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a professional Association football, football club based in the Porto metropolitan area. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,600-seat capac ...

and Olhanense. In March 2015, after spending the first part of the campaign 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 ...

, he joined

DPMM FC Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club (English language, English: His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Brunei Football Club; Abbreviation, abbrev: DPMM or Brunei DPMM) is a professional association football, football club based in Bandar S ...

of the

, replacing injured Craig Fagan. He scored a brace on his debut on 4 April, helping to a 3–2 away defeat of

Hougang United FC Hougang United Football Club is a professional football club based in Hougang, Singapore. The club competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singaporean football. Founded in 1998 as Marine Castle United, the club changed its na ...

. Paulo Sérgio netted twice in the 4–0 win over

Balestier Khalsa FC Balestier Khalsa Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Toa Payoh, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League. Founded in 1898, the club is considered as the oldest Football in Singapore, foot ...

in the final league game of

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, and his team won their first-ever national championship.

International career

Paulo Sérgio played seven times in the

2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

, netting four goals. He was not, however, selected for the squad that appeared in the final tournament, which was held on home soil. Previously, Paulo Sérgio appeared with the under-19s in the 2003 European Championship in Liechtenstein, scoring five times in as many matches as the national team lost in the final against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Career statistics

Honours

AEL Limassol *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

runner-up: 2012–13 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

runner-up: 2012 DPMM *

* Singapore Community Shield runner-up:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Bhayangkara * Liga 1:

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 ...

Bali United *Liga 1:

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 ...

Portugal U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Individual *UEFA European Under-19 Championship top scorer:

*Liga 1 Best Player:

*Liga 1 Best XI: 2017,

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulo Sergio 1984 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP B players Sporting CP footballers Académica de Coimbra (football) players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players C.D. Aves players Portimonense S.C. players S.C. Olhanense players Vitória S.C. players F.C. Arouca players Segunda División players UD Salamanca players Cypriot First Division players AEL Limassol players Singapore Premier League players DPMM FC players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Bhayangkara Presisi Lampung F.C. players Bali United F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's B international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Brunei Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Brunei Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia