Nuno Miguel Barbosa Morais (born 29 January 1984) 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 ...

. Mainly a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, he could also appear as a

central defender 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 ...

. He was signed by Chelsea in 2004, but stayed only two years with the club, going on to spend the vast majority of his career with APOEL and win 16 major titles, including nine

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

championships.

Career

Chelsea

Born in

Penafiel Penafiel ( or ) is a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality and former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) in the Norte Region, Portugal, northern Portugal, Portuguese Porto District, district of Porto. Capital of the Tâmega Subregion ...

Porto District The Districts of Portugal, District of Porto ( ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro (district), Aveiro and Viseu (distric ...

, Morais started his career at his hometown club F.C. Penafiel, but in August 2004 was signed by England's Chelsea for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract, after a successful trial period. He made his debut for the latter in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

win against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

in January 2005, playing the full 90 minutes. His first

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

appearance occurred on 10 May, as a late substitute in a 3–1 away victory over

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. Due to the fact that Morais struggled to get first team action in his first season, he was loaned to C.S. Marítimo in 2005–06, alongside compatriot Filipe Oliveira. In that summer, he appeared twice for the Portuguese under-21s at the

2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...

on home soil, with Oliveira.

APOEL

Returning to Chelsea, Morais only appeared twice in the league, totalling less than 20 minutes in home draws against Manchester United and Everton and playing three times between the FA Cup and the

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. On 11 May 2007, he signed a two-year deal with Cypriot champions

APOEL FC APOEL FC (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a Cypriot professio ...

on a free transfer. Morais was converted to a

during his time in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

, and signed a new contract until June 2012. Since his debut he was an essential defensive unit as the side won, amongst other trophies, nine championships, three

cups CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs ...

and four super cups; he also appeared in all six group-stage matches of the club in its first participation in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. In the 2011–12 Champions League, Morais was an undisputed starter for the side as they reached the quarter-finals for the first time ever, playing all ten fixtures – including the round-of-16 defeat of

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

where he converted his attempt in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. On 4 May 2012, he agreed to a three-year extension to his link. During 2013–14, Morais appeared in every group stage game in APOEL's

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

campaign, and scored the 2–1 winner against

FC Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux () or simply Bordeaux, is a French Association football, football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde (department), Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitain ...

GSP Stadium The GSP Stadium () is a association football, football stadium in Strovolos, Nicosia District, Cyprus. Although small by international standards, it is the largest stadium in Cyprus, with a capacity of 22,859 and was opened in 1999. It serves as ...

. The following season, he was also first-choice in his team's Champions League campaign. On 7 May 2016, following a league match against

Apollon Limassol FC Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has Association football, football, Apollon Limassol B.C., basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cyp ...

, Morais reached 251 for APOEL and became the foreigner with the most appearances in the history of the Cypriot top division. On 16 August, after playing against F.C. Copenhagen in the Champions League play-off round, he reached a club-best 81 games in European competitions. Morais retired in July 2019, at the age of 35. He finished his career as APOEL's highest appearance maker of all time, with 524 matches to his name. Following his retirement, he remained at his main club as the youth team coach and assistant manager, joining the coaching team of compatriot

Ricardo Sá Pinto Ricardo Manuel Andrade e Silva Sá Pinto (born 10 October 1972) is a Portuguese former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward, currently a Manager (association football), manager. H ...

in June 2023.

Career statistics

Honours

Chelsea *

: 2006–07 *

: 2006–07 APOEL *

: 2008–09,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 2007–08, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morais, Nuno 1984 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Penafiel Men's association football central defenders Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players F.C. Penafiel players C.S. Marítimo players Premier League players Chelsea F.C. players Cypriot First Division players APOEL FC players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's B international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus