Rúben Tiago Rodrigues Ribeiro (born 1 August 1987) 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 ...

. He achieved

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 189 games and 18 goals, for

Leixões The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinh ...

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its Association football, football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth natio ...

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

, Rio Ave,

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

, Boavista,

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,

and Chaves, winning 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 ...

with Sporting in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. He also played professionally in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, Ribeiro spent most of his youth career with local

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese football, at the Estádio do B ...

before joining

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...

in 2002 to complete his development. He only managed to total 13 league appearances in his first three senior seasons, ten of which in 2008–09, spent in the

; his debut in the competition took place on 15 September 2007, when he came on as a late substitute in a 0–0 away draw against precisely Boavista. Ribeiro played with F.C. Penafiel in the 2011–12 campaign, in the Segunda Liga. On 22 June 2012 he returned to the top flight, signing for four years with S.C. Beira-Mar.

Paços Ferreira

In the summer of 2013, after scoring a career-best six goals which was not enough to help prevent relegation, Ribeiro joined F.C. Paços de Ferreira of the same league on a three-year contract. He scored once during the first half of his first season, later labelling his spell there as "the worst" of his career, before spending the better part of the following months on loan to Rio Ave F.C. and Gil Vicente F.C. also in the top tier.

Boavista and Rio Ave

Ribeiro returned to Boavista on 7 January 2016, on a deal running until 30 June. He played his first league match 11 days later, when he featured the entire 4–0 home win over Vitória de Setúbal. In the subsequent off-season, Ribeiro agreed a to a two-year contract at former club Rio Ave. In one of his first games on 4 August 2016 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 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 ...

, he equalised in a 1–1 home draw with

SK Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional association football, football football team, club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are ...

, though the Czechs advanced on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

. He started 27 times in his debut campaign, helping the Luís Castro-led side to a seventh-place finish. On 13 December 2017, Ribeiro was one of three players on target in the 3–2 home defeat of S.L. Benfica in the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

Sporting CP

Near the end of the calendar year, Ribeiro signed with

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,

who paid

€ 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 ...

400,000 to acquire his services on a two-and-a-half-year deal effective as of 11 January 2018. He was awarded the #7 jersey which had been previously worn by several players who failed to perform at the club, and made his debut on 14 January by starting and playing 66 minutes in a 3–0 victory against C.D. Aves at the

Estádio José Alvalade The Estádio José Alvalade (; ') is a Football (soccer), football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the Estádio José Alvalade (1956), older stadium. The stadium is named afte ...

. He started in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

thirteen days later, being substituted at half time in the win over Vitória de Setúbal. In the summer of 2018, Ribeiro was one of several players who unilaterally severed their contracts with Sporting, after an attack by fans on the training ground.

Later career

Ribeiro left his country's league for the first time in October 2018 when he joined

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

-based

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) is a professional Football team, football club based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi (emirate), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many sport sections of ...

, with the deal being confirmed the following 30 January. He returned to Portugal late in the same year, agreeing to a short-team contract at former team Gil Vicente. On 16 August 2020, Ribeiro moved abroad again, joining Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

side Hatayspor on a free transfer. In July 2022, the 35-year-old signed a two-year extension. He survived an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

the following February by jumping out his window. Ribeiro returned to Portugal on 1 September 2023, on a contract at top-division G.D. Chaves.

Career statistics

Honours

Leixões * Segunda Liga: 2006–07 Sporting CP *

: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ribeiro, Ruben 1987 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Porto Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Leixões S.C. players F.C. Penafiel players S.C. Beira-Mar players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Rio Ave F.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players Boavista F.C. players Sporting CP footballers G.D. Chaves players UAE Pro League players Al Ain FC players Süper Lig players Hatayspor footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey