Rúben Rafael de Melo Silva Pinto (born 24 April 1992) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Liga Portugal 2 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 Pr ...

club S.C.U. Torreense.

Club career

Benfica

Born in

Odivelas Odivelas () is a municipality in the Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. The municipality is located 8 km northwest of the center of Lisbon. Predominantly a residential suburb, the population in 2021 was 148 034, in an area of 26.54 km2 (one of t ...

Lisbon metropolitan area The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (; abbreviated as AML) is a metropolitan areas in Portugal, metropolitan area in Portugal centered on Lisbon, the capital and largest city of the country. The metropolitan area, covering 17 List of cities in Portuga ...

, Pinto joined

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 in 2004, aged 12. He was promoted to the first team for the 2011–12 season, being limited to a sole bench presence in that first year; in June 2011 he signed his first professional contract, running until 2015 with a €30 million clause. Pinto made his senior debut in the 2012–13 campaign, competing with the reserves in the Segunda Liga. He made his first appearance in the competition on 28 April 2013, starting and playing 73 minutes in the 1–1 home draw against

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 ...

. Pinto scored his first goal in the second division on 26 August 2013, in a 3–0 home win over

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 ...

. On 25 January of the following year, he was again an unused substitute for the main squad, in a game against Gil Vicente F.C. in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

. On 7 January 2015, F.C. Paços de Ferreira signed Pinto on a loan deal until the end of the season. He scored his first goal in the

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 ...

on 4 May, playing the full 90 minutes and helping to a 2–2 home draw with

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 ...

Belenenses

On 18 June 2015, Pinto joined

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 a four-year contract. He made his league debut on 15 August, scoring in the 3–3 home draw against

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

. Pinto played ten matches in the

2015–16 UEFA Europa League The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played between Liverpoo ...

(qualifying rounds included, all starts), helping his team to the group phase.

CSKA Sofia

In the beginning of August 2016, Pinto joined

PFC CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First Professional Football League, First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ' ...

on loan with an option to make the move permanent afterwards. On 15 June 2017, the Bulgarian club activated the clause and he agreed to a three-year deal three days later. In August 2019, Pinto saw himself removed from the first team (alongside

Nikolay Bodurov Nikolay Georgiev Bodurov (; born 30 May 1986) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays for Pirin Blagoevgrad and the Bulgaria national team. Bodurov plays mainly as a centre back but has also played as a right back on some occasions. ...

) by manager

Ljupko Petrović Ljubomir "Ljupko" Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Љубомир "Љупко" Петровић; born 15 May 1947) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He also holds a Bosnian passport. As a manager, Petrović's biggest success wa ...

, reportedly for disciplinary reasons.

International career

Pinto earned 65

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 across six youth levels. On 2 June 2013 he made his debut with the under-21s, coming on midway through the second half of the 2–0 friendly defeat of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Ruben 1992 births Living people People from Odivelas 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon District Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica B players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players C.F. Os Belenenses players S.C.U. Torreense players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC CSKA Sofia players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Fehérvár 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 Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Hungary