David Martins Simão (born 15 May 1990) 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

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 Arouca.

Club career

Born in

Versailles, Yvelines Versailles ( , ) is a commune in the department of the Yvelines, Île-de-France, known worldwide for the Château de Versailles and the gardens of Versailles, which is designated an UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Located in the western suburbs ...

, France, Simão played most of his youth career at S.L. Benfica, having arrived at the age of 10 from Grupo Instrução Musical Desportiva Abóboda. On 19 January 2008, he was called to the first team for a

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 ...

tie Tie has two principal meanings: * Tie (draw), a finish to a competition with identical results, particularly sports * Necktie, a long piece of cloth worn around the neck or shoulders Tie or TIE may also refer to: Engineering and technology * T ...

against

C.D. Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese association football, football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of football in ...

, courtesy of manager José Antonio Camacho, and was also picked for both

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 ...

round-of-16 matches against

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

, not being used however in any of the three fixtures. Simão made his professional debut with C.D. Fátima, on loan, his first appearance being against C.D. Santa Clara in the 2009–10 season opener in the Segunda Liga, a 1–0 away loss. On 26 September 2009, he scored his first goal for the side, in a 1–1 away draw to Gil Vicente FC. On 17 June 2010, Simão moved to F.C. Paços de Ferreira, still on loan. He made his

debut on 14 August in a 1–0 home win over

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 only missed five league games (19 starts, 2,051 minutes of action) during the campaign as the team finished in seventh position. Simão returned to Benfica for 2011–12 but, deemed surplus to requirements by manager Jorge Jesus, he moved to fellow top-tier Académica de Coimbra again on loan, on 17 January 2012. He scored his first goal for his new club on 26 March, netting from 40 yards in a 2–1 defeat at S.C. Braga. On 31 July 2012, Simão was loaned to C.S. Marítimo in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long move. He terminated his contract with Benfica late into June of the following year, and signed a three-year deal with F.C. Arouca also in the top flight. Aged 26, Simão moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining

First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

club

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 ' ...

for three years. On 28 May 2017, he netted twice in The Eternal Derby to help overcome

PFC Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was ...

3–0, but left on 31 August of that year to immediately sign with

Boavista FC 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, at the Estádio do Bessa. It is one of the oldest clubs ...

. Simão moved teams and countries again in January 2019, agreeing to a contract at Royal Antwerp F.C. of the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

. On 22 June, he switched to the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

with

AEK Athens FC A.E.K. Football Club (), known simply as A.E.K. (; ) in Greece and AEK Athens internationally, is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica, Greece. Established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople in the ...

, signing until 2022 for an undisclosed fee. In February 2020, Simão was loaned to

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

side Hapoel Be'er Sheva FC. He and compatriots Miguel Vítor and

Josué Pesqueira Josué Filipe Soares Pesqueira (born 17 September 1990), known simply as Josué, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série B club Coritiba. He spent most of his career attache ...

won the Israeli State Cup on 13 July with a 2–0 final victory over Hapoel Petah Tikva FC. Simão returned to Arouca on 10 January 2022, on a deal running until June 2023.

Personal life

Simão's older brother,

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologn ...

, was also a footballer, in the defender position.

Career statistics

Honours

Académica *

: 2011–12 Hapoel Be'er Sheva *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup (, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involves clubs of all standards ...

: 2019–20 Individual * SJPF Young Player of the Month: December 2012, January 2013

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simao, David 1990 births Living people Portuguese people of French descent 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Versailles, Yvelines Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers C.D. Fátima players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Académica de Coimbra (football) players C.S. Marítimo players F.C. Arouca players Boavista F.C. players Moreirense F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC CSKA Sofia players Belgian Pro League players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Super League Greece players AEK Athens F.C. players Israeli Premier League players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. 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 Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Israel