Paulo Clemente Ventura Raimundo (born 14 October 1983), known as Clemente, is a Portuguese retired

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 forward. Over ten seasons, he amassed Segunda Liga totals of 323 games and 62 goals, representing a total of six clubs. He appeared 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 ...

with Santa Clara (three matches).

Club career

Born in

Ponta Delgada Ponta Delgada (; ) is the largest municipality (''concelho'') and executive capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. As of 2021, it has 67,2 ...

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

, Clemente began his career with boyhood club

CD Operário Clube Operário Desportivo ''(known as CD Operário, Operário dos Açores or just Operário),'' is a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football club based in Lagoa (Azores), Lagoa in the island of São Miguel Island, São Miguel in the ...

, spending three seasons in the third division and one in

the fourth ''The Fourth'' () is a 1972 Soviet drama film directed by Aleksandr Stolper. The film tells the story of an American journalist who has to make a difficult choice: publicize the plans of supporters of the war after having lost all his life's ben ...

. In 2005, he left for another side in the latter tier, Louletano DC. Clemente first reached the professionals in the 2007–08 campaign, competing with Gondomar S.C. in the Segunda Liga. In January 2008 he returned to division three, signing for G.D. Chaves and scoring 13 goals in his first full season to help the northerners promote as champions. Chaves was immediately relegated in 2009–10, but the team managed to reach the final of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

, with Clemente contributing five games and one goal, which came precisely in the decisive match against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, who won it 2–1. Clemente continued playing in the second tier the following seasons, with U.D. Oliveirense and F.C. Arouca. In June 2013, following the latter's promotion to the

, he was released; on the 24th, he returned to former club Chaves also in the second division. In early January 2014, Clemente parted ways with the ''Flavienses'', moving to fellow league team

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

shortly after. He joined C.D. Santa Clara in the ensuing off-season, scoring seven goals in the 2017–18 season to help them return to the top flight after a 15-year absence, as runners-up. Clemente's maiden appearance in the Portuguese top division took place on 22 September 2018 at the age of 34 years and 11 months, when he came on as a second-half substitute in the 1–3 home loss to Rio Ave FC. As the campaign was drawing to an end, both he and teammate Danildo Accioly announced they would retire and become part of Santa Clara's coaching staff.Clemente e Accioly deixam o Santa Clara no final da época e retiram-se do futebol (Clemente and Accioly leave Santa Clara at the end of the season and retire from football)
Rádio Renascença, 7 May 2019 (in Portuguese)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clemente, Paulo 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Ponta Delgada Footballers from the Azores Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players CD Operário players Louletano D.C. players Gondomar S.C. players G.D. Chaves players U.D. Oliveirense players F.C. Arouca players S.C. Farense players C.D. Santa Clara players 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen