Mateus Lima Cruz (born 18 January 1993), known as Mateus, is a Brazilian

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

side

Guangxi Pingguo Haliao Guangxi Pingguo Football Club (; ) is a Chinese professional Association football, football club based in Pingguo, Guangxi, that competes in . Guangxi Pingguo plays its home matches at the Pingguo Stadium, located within Pingguo. Founded in 2018 ...

Club career

Born in

Iturama Iturama is a Brazilian municipality with a total area of 401 km2 in the center-west of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. In 2020 the population was estimated at 39,690. It became a municipality on 27 December 1948. Geography Iturama bel ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, Mateus Lima was a Grêmio Barueri youth graduate. After a short loan spell at Sport Barueri, he made his professional debut on 17 November 2012, starting in a 2–0 home win against

Avaí Avaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 5,436 (2020 est.) in an area of 540 km2. Media In telecommunications, the city was served by Companhia Telefônica Brasileira until 1973, when it began to be serve ...

for the Série B championship. On 4 February 2013, Mateus Lima moved to

Sport Recife Sport Club do Recife (), commonly known as Sport Recife or simply Sport, is a Brazilian sports club, located in Recife, Pernambuco. Founded in 1905, the club currently competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top tier of football i ...

. After only appearing for the club in the

Campeonato Pernambucano The Campeonato Pernambucano is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. It is run by the Pernambuco Football Federation (FPF). History The first edition of the Campeonato Pernambucano was played i ...

, he joined Guarani on 10 December. On 16 January 2014, Mateus Lima signed for Luverdense. He scored his first professional goal on 19 November, but in a 1–2 home loss against

América Mineiro The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

; he added another ten days later, netting the game's only in a home success over

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

. On 20 February 2015, Mateus Lima agreed to a contract with Operário Ferroviário. He was crowned champions of the year's

Campeonato Paranaense The Campeonato Paranaense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is run by the Paraná Football Federation (FPF). List of champions Notes * In 1924 Internacional and América merged in ...

, but appeared rarely. In June 2015, Mateus Lima signed with Albanian Champions

Skënderbeu Korçë Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian feudal lord and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serb ...

as a reinforcement for the club's campaign in Champions League after the departures of

Aco Stojkov Aco Stojkov (; born 29 April 1983) is a Macedonian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career In his early years, he played with his compatriot Goran Pandev for Inter Milan youth teams. He was then loaned to lower-level ...

, Dhiego Martins and

Fatjon Sefa Fatjon Fatmir Sefa (born 23 July 1984) was an Albanian professional footballer who played as a forward for Lushnja in the Albanian Superliga. He is nicknamed "Ujku" (Wolf for Albanian) due to his scoring abilities inside of the zone. Club car ...

. The Brazilian striker was also a target of

FK Kukësi Futboll Klub Kukësi is an Albanian professional football club based in the city of Kukës. The club plays its home games at the Kukës Arena and currently competes in the Kategoria e Parë, the second highest division of Albanian football. The ...

. In his unofficial debut on 16 June, Lima scored in his debut after 29 minutes in an eventual 2–1 win against Romanian side. Despite scoring in his debut, however, he was not named in Skënderbeu's squad list for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League because he did not convince his coach

Mirel Josa Mirel Josa (born 1 June 1963) is an Albanian football coach and a former player. As a player, he played in the Greek Alpha Ethniki for Nea Kavala and Aris, as well as making 27 international appearances for the Albania national football team bet ...

in his appearances. In July 2015, after just one month with Skënderbeu Korçë, Mateus Limaleft the club and signed with Kukesi. In the 2015–16 campaign, he scored seven league goals in 27 league appearances, along with three goals in the

Albanian Cup The Albanian Cup () is the main "knockout" competition in Albanian football. The competition started in 1939 as Kupa e Mbretit ( English:"The King's Cup"). The cup was suspended for the next eight years as the Second World War started. It start ...

. In July 2016, Mateus Lima joined

Santos Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...

, and was assigned to the B-team squad. On the last day of the summer transfer window 2017, Mateus Lima signed with the

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

side

Borac Čačak Borac may refer to: * FK Borac Banja Luka, a football club from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina ** RK Borac Banja Luka, an affiliated team handball club ** OK Borac, an affiliated volleyball club * FK Borac Čačak, a football club from Čač ...

. In the summer of 2018, Mateus Lima signed a two-year contract with the

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...

side

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo (), often referred to as Slaven Belupo, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia. They play their home matches at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica. They play in ...

. On 17 August 2020 he signed with

Hapoel Nof HaGalil Hapoel Nof HaGalil Football Club (; ) is an Israeli professional football club based in Nof HaGalil. The club was formally known by the name "Nazareth Illit" until 2019 (the club accordingly was named as Hapoel Nazareth Illit F.C.). The club cu ...

Career statistics

Honours

;Operário Ferroviário *

: 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lima, Mateus 1993 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Grêmio Barueri Futebol players Sport Club do Recife players Guarani FC players Operário Ferroviário Esporte Clube players Santos FC players KF Skënderbeu Korçë players FK Kukësi players FK Borac Čačak players NK Slaven Belupo players Hapoel Nof HaGalil F.C. players Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. players FC Nasaf players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Kategoria Superiore players Serbian SuperLiga players Croatian Football League players Liga Leumit players Uzbekistan Super League players

Mateus Lima Mateus Lima Cruz (born 18 January 1993), known as Mateus, is a Brazilian Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for China League One side Guangxi Pingguo Haliao F.C., Guangxi Pingguo Haliao. Clu ...