Mário Jorge Malico Paulino (born 10 November 1986), known as Camora, is a 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

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

, which he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He spent most of his professional career at CFR Cluj in Romania, with which he won ten domestic trophies since signing in 2011. Previously, he totalled 66 matches 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 ...

over four seasons, 64 of those with

Naval A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operatio ...

. Born in Portugal, Camora acquired Romanian citizenship in 2020 and began representing the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

later that year.

Club career

Portugal

Camora was born in Samora Correia, Benavente,

Santarém District The District of Santarém ( ) is a district of Portugal, located in Portugal's West and Tagus Valley region. The district capital is the city of Santarém. The district is the 3rd largest in Portugal, with an area of , and a population of 475 ...

. After beginning in amateur football, in January 2006 he signed with S.C. Beira-Mar in the Segunda Liga. He appeared rarely for the Aveiro-based team in his first years, also being loaned once; in the 2006–07 season he played two games with them in the

, suffering relegation. In summer 2008, Camora joined

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, was a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it last played in the Division of Honour i ...

of the top tier, making his official debut for the club in the competition on 15 February 2009 by featuring 27 minutes in a 2–2 away draw against C.D. Trofense. After only eight matches in his first year, he went on to become an important first-team unit at the

Figueira da Foz Figueira da Foz (), officially Figueira da Foz City (), often called simply Figueira for short, is a city and a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. Practically at the midpoint of the Iberian Peninsula's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...

side. Camora scored the first of two goals in the Portuguese top flight on 28 November 2009, opening an eventual 1–1 away draw against C.D. Nacional.

CFR Cluj

On 24 May 2011, following Naval's relegation, Camora moved abroad to Romania's

, where he joined several compatriots. He contributed one goal from 28 appearances in his debut campaign, as the club won the third

championship in its history. Camora became the player with the most league appearances for CFR on 17 April 2018, after surpassing Cadú's record of 202 matches. On 24 January 2019, it was announced that the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

had agreed to a three-year contract extension, at the same time expressing his desire to retire at the Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu and move permanently to Romania.

International career

Camora earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 8 October 2020, playing the entire 2–1 away loss to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

qualifiers. In doing so, he reportedly became the oldest footballer to make his debut for the national team at the age of 33 years, 10 months and 28 days. Camora appeared in a further nine internationals, his last being against

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

in the Euro 2024 qualifying phase. He suffered an injury early into the 0–0 draw in

Pristina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and District of Pristina, district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdo ...

, but also surpassed

Miodrag Belodedici Miodrag Belodedici (; ; born 20 May 1964) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who played as a sweeper (association football), sweeper. Nicknamed ''The Deer'' due to his elegant Tackle (football move), tackles, he ...

and Lucian Sânmărtean to become the sixth oldest player in history to take the field for the country, at 36 years, seven months and six days.

Personal life

Camora married a Romanian woman, Mirabela, with the couple having one son. On 24 August 2020, he obtained Romanian citizenship and became eligible to represent the national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Beira-Mar * Segunda Liga: 2005–06 CFR Cluj *

: 2011–12, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 2015–16, 2024–25 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

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 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Individual *Liga I Team of the Season: 2018–19 *Liga I Team of the Regular Season: 2018–19 *Liga I Team of the Championship Play-offs: 2018–19 Records *CFR Cluj all-time appearance holder: 545 *CFR Cluj all-time Liga I appearance holder: 419 * Foreign player with the most appearances in Liga I: 419

References

Notes Citations

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Camora 1986 births Living people People from Benavente, Portugal Portuguese emigrants to Romania Naturalised citizens of Romania 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen 21st-century Romanian sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Romanian men's footballers Footballers from Santarém District Naturalised association football players Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.C. Beira-Mar players A.A. Avanca players F.C. Pampilhosa players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players Liga I players CFR Cluj players Romania men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania