Mauro Alves Riquicho (born 7 April 1995) 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 lea ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera, Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Port ...

Lisbon District Lisbon District () is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the current Setúbal District. ...

Mozambican Mozambican may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mozambique, a country in southeastern Africa * A person from Mozambique, or of Mozambican descent: ** Demographics of Mozambique ** Culture of Mozambique ** List of Mozambicans * Mozambic ...

descent, Riquicho joined

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,

's youth system at the age of 12. On 27 April 2013, still a junior, he made his professional debut with

the B team The B Team is a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. It advocates for business practices that are more centered on humanity and the climate. History In 2013, a group of leaders came together followin ...

, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 away draw against C.D. Aves in the Segunda Liga. Riquicho scored his only goal in the competition on 11 December 2013, but in a 3–1 away loss to

S.L. Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B" (), commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional association football, football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S. ...

. He went on to have a long spell on the sidelines, due to a fracture to his left

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

International career

Riquicho represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

at the

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after ...

. He played all matches in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, helping his country to reach the quarter-finals. Riquicho won his only

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 the under-21 team on 8 September 2015, starting and finishing the 6–1 away rout of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in the 2017 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.

Jiu-Jitsu Athlete career

After his career in soccer Riquicho embraced another sport - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - competing at the highest level - Placing second in the 2025 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championships in the Ultra Heavy weight division representing Team Gracie Barra Cascais from Portugal. He currently keeps on competing actively and is ranked number 2 in the World in his weight class.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riquicho, Mauro 1995 births Living people Portuguese people of Mozambican descent 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Cascais Men's association football fullbacks Liga Portugal 2 players Sporting CP B players Louletano D.C. players C.D. Fátima players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers