Rúben Alexandre Rocha Lima (born 3 October 1989) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

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 ...

club

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 ...

Club career

Portugal

A product of hometown

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 " ...

's youth system,

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 ...

-born Lima was promoted to the first team for the 2007–08 season. In January 2008 however he, alongside teammates

Miguel Vítor Miguel Ângelo Leonardo Vítor (; born 30 June 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Be'er Sheva, where he is also captain, and for the Israel national team. He spent most of his ...

and

Romeu Ribeiro Romeu Oliveira Ribeiro (born 13 January 1989) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Born in Vieira do Minho, Braga District, Ribeiro began his youth career with local S.C. Braga, being ...

, was loaned to C.D. Aves in the Segunda Liga, with the move being extended for the entirety of the following campaign. Lima moved to

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 ...

for 2009–10, also on loan. He made his

debut on 17 August 2009, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 home draw against

Vitória de Guimarães 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 ...

. He eventually appeared in 24 of the league's 30 games (22 starts), as the '' Sadinos'' barely avoided relegation. After his contract with Benfica ended, Lima signed for

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 ...

, recently returned to the top division.

Hajduk Split

In June 2011, Lima moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining

HNK Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, that competes in the Croatian First Football League, Cro ...

in the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...

. He quickly became first-choice left-back at his new club, as that position had lacked in consistency ever since the departure of

Ivan Strinić Ivan Strinić (; born 17 July 1987) is a Croatian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Strinić spent his professional career playing in a number of clubs from ...

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 ...

. Under the management of

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov (, ; born 29 March 1966) is a former Bulgarian footballer and manager. A former attacking midfielder, he was a key member of the Bulgaria national team that finished fourth in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He is considered ...

, Lima was a first-team regular in the 2011–12 season. He made his debut in the

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 ...

on 28 July 2011, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away loss to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

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 ...

Dinamo Zagreb

On 24 July 2013, Lima signed a four-year contract with Hajduk Split's fierce rivals,

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional association football, football Football team, club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They ...

, for an undisclosed fee.

Career statistics

Honours

Hajduk Split *

Croatian Football Cup The Croatian Football Cup (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the HNL championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS ...

2012–13 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 ...

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lima, Ruben 1989 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers C.D. Aves players Vitória F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players C.F. União players Moreirense F.C. players B-SAD players F.C. Famalicão players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Croatian Football League players HNK Hajduk Split players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players HNK Rijeka players HNK Rijeka II players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Croatia