Bruno Martins Simão (born 5 May 1985) is a Portuguese former 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 le ...

who played as a left-back. He spent most of his career abroad, making 49 appearances with three clubs in Romania's

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

and also winning cups in Azerbaijan and Moldova, in addition to brief stints in Slovakia, Cyprus and France. Domestically, he totalled 68 games in

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG 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 Prim ...

, where he represented four teams.

Club career

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Simão was a youth product of S.L. Benfica. Following the decision of club president

João Vale e Azevedo João António de Araújo Vale e Azevedo (born 17 May 1957) is a Portuguese former lawyer who was the 31st president of sports club S.L. Benfica. In relation to his three-year club presidency, he was convicted of embezzlement, document forge ...

of dissolving the club's underage teams, he moved on to

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

and

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os 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 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

before returning to the ''Eagles''

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. After a brief spell in the Segunda Liga with

F.C. Barreirense Futebol Clube Barreirense is a Portuguese sports club founded on 11 April 1911. The main sports are football and basketball. In both sports, the club has represented Portugal in European competitions. In basketball, the club won 2 national champ ...

, he moved abroad for the first time to

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

in Romania's

. Simão had further experience of the Eastern European country's top flight with

FC Dinamo București Fotbal Club Dinamo București (), commonly known as Dinamo București or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest. Founded in 1948, they have spent almost List of unrelegated association f ...

and

FC Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent the ...

, with a year at

SK Slovan Bratislava SK may refer to: Businesses and organizations * SK Foods, an American agribusiness company * SK Hand Tools, an American tool manufacturer * Sangguniang Kabataan, Philippines youth councils * SK Group, South Korean conglomerate * Scandinavian Airli ...

in Slovakia in between. In 2010 he signed for

Khazar Lankaran FK Khazar Lankaran FK ( tly, Xəzər Lankon Futboli Klub, script=Latn, az, Xəzər Lənkəran Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Lankaran that last played in the Azerbaijan Premier League during the 2015–16 season. Since the ...

of the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

, and won the cup in his only season. Moving on to

FC Milsami Orhei Fotbal Club Milsami Orhei, commonly known as Milsami Orhei, or simply Milsami, is a Moldovan football club based in Orhei, Moldova, currently playing in the Moldovan Super Liga. Previously known as ''FC Viitorul Orhei'', it won its first league ...

of Moldova, Simão was again a

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

champion in his first campaign ( 2011–12), also picking up the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

that summer. After a brief stint in Cyprus with Doxa Katokopias FC without playing, he signed in September 2013 to FC Dacia Chișinău in the previous country. Simão's eight-year Eastern adventure ended in 2014 as he joined

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

in his country's third division, moving on to

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Est ...

that July. Following a brief return to Leiria in July 2015, he signed for

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

of division two. In August 2017, Simão headed abroad again to sign for US Lusitanos Saint-Maur, a Portuguese-community team in France's fourth tier. He left soon after to

C.D. Pinhalnovense Clube Desportivo Pinhalnovense is a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football club based in the town of Pinhal Novo, Palmela, Setúbal District. Founded in 1948, it currently plays in AF Setúbal 2ª Divisão, holding home games at ''Ca ...

in the Portuguese lower leagues, where he suffered a road accident that put him in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for two days. Simão joined

Casa Pia A.C. Casa Pia Atlético Clube is a Portuguese multi-sports founded in 1920 and based in Lisbon, Portugal, best-known for its football team, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after Casa Pia, a Portuguese children's charity, and many ...

in July 2018, and was part of their squad that defeated

U.D. Vilafranquense União Desportiva Vilafranquense is a Portuguese football club from Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of the Portuguese football league system, following its promotion in 2019. The oth ...

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

to win the third-division title. He was one of three players to be released halfway through the season in January 2020, dropping down a level to

S.C.U. Torreense Sport Clube União Torreense is a Portuguese sports club, best known for its association football section, founded in Torres Vedras in 1917, as Sport União Torreense. History It participated six times in the Portuguese Liga (last in 1991–92 ...

Personal life

Simão's younger brother,

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, was also a footballer, in the

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

position. Their cousin,

Rúben Amorim Rúben Filipe Marques Amorim (; born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Primeira Liga club Sporting CP. Amorim played in his career as a midfielder, spending most of ...

, was also a player and manager.

Career statistics

Honours

Khazar Lankaran *

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid. ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Milsami * Moldovan Cup: 2011–12 *

Moldovan Super Cup Moldovan Super Cup ( ro, Supercupa Moldovei) is the national football (soccer), football super cup competition in Moldova, officially having the winners of the previous season's Moldovan National Division and Moldovan Cup face-off against each oth ...

: 2012 Casa Pia * Campeonato de Portugal: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simao, Bruno 1985 births Living people Portuguese footballers Footballers from Lisbon Association football defenders Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players C.F. Os Belenenses players S.L. Benfica B players F.C. Barreirense players U.D. Leiria players U.D. Oliveirense players Atlético Clube de Portugal players C.D. Fátima players C.D. Pinhalnovense players Casa Pia A.C. players S.C.U. Torreense players Clube Oriental de Lisboa players Liga I players Liga II players FC UTA Arad players FC Dinamo București players FC Astra Giurgiu players Slovak Super Liga players ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Azerbaijan Premier League players Khazar Lankaran FK players Moldovan Super Liga players FC Milsami Orhei players FC Dacia Chișinău players Doxa Katokopias FC players Championnat National 2 players US Lusitanos Saint-Maur players Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Slovakia Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Moldova Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France