Miguel Ângelo da Cruz Simão (born 26 February 1973) is a Portuguese retired 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 mainly 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) ** Sm ...

Football career

Born in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Simão successfully emerged through local

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

's youth system, making his professional debuts in the Segunda Liga with

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

and joining another club in that division,

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

, in the following season. He first competed in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

with

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Founded on 8 December 1911, in the parish of Paranhos, it is mostly known f ...

, playing in 22 games in 1993–94 as his team finished in 11th position (five goals scored). Simão spent most of the following four years in the second level, the exception being the 1996–97 campaign with Salgueiros. In the 1998 summer he joined Scottish club

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

, making his debut on 29 August in a 0–4 loss against

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . O ...

, which proved to be manager Paul Sturrock's final game in charge; he played in 26

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

matches in his first year, netting four times. Three days shy of celebrating one year since playing his first game for the Saints, Simão scored two late goals as a substitute against

Vaasan Palloseura Vaasan Palloseura (or VPS) is a Finnish football club, based in Vaasa. It currently plays in the first tier of Finnish football (''Veikkausliiga''). The club's current manager is Jussi Nuorela. The club plays its home matches at Hietalahti. VP ...

in the

UEFA 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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

, in a playoff round 2–0 home win (3–1 on aggregate).Football: Super sub Simao is at the double in fight to the Finnish; St Johnstone 2 VPS Vaasa 0 (St Johnstone win 3–1 on aggregate)]; 27 August 1999 After a few months in

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

with

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the coun ...

, he returned to Portugal for a further two-and-a-half seasons with three clubs, appearing with

Gil Vicente F.C. Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

in the top flight.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simao, Miguel 1973 births Living people Footballers from Porto Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Boavista F.C. players C.D. Nacional players C.D. Feirense players S.C. Salgueiros players Académica de Coimbra (football) players C.D. Aves players Gil Vicente F.C. players Moreirense F.C. players AD Fafe players Scottish Premier League players St Johnstone F.C. players J1 League players Sanfrecce Hiroshima players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Luxembourg Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Japan