Paulo Ricardo Ribeiro de Jesus Machado (born 31 March 1986) 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

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Formed at

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, he amassed

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 ...

totals of 103 matches and eight goals over five seasons, in representation of as many clubs. He also competed professionally in France, Greece, Croatia and India, winning the national championship twice each with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

and

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

. Machado won six

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

, making his first appearance in 2010.

Club career

Porto

Born in the

neighbourhood of Bairro do Cerco, where he was surrounded by deviant behaviours from an early age, Machado joined

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 ...

's youth system at the age of 14. He made his first-team debut in the sixth round 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 ...

on 21 January 2004, under

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

; he came on as a substitute for

Sérgio Conceição Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição (; born 15 November 1974) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who mostly played as a right winger. Throughout his career, he played for ten teams in five countries. After gain ...

, who had just concluded the 4–0 win against U.D. Vilafranquense at the

Estádio das Antas The Estádio das Antas (; officially Estádio do Futebol Clube do Porto ) was the third (and longest occupied) stadium of the Portuguese football side FC Porto. It was in use from 1952 to 2004, replacing the earlier Campo da Constituição, 1.6k ...

. In the summer of 2005 he signed an improved contract until 2010 along with teammate

Bruno Vale Bruno Miguel Esteves do Vale (born 8 April 1983) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his career in Cyprus with Apollon Limassol after being brought up at Porto, appearing in more than 300 ...

, before both went on consecutive loans to C.F. Estrela da Amadora and U.D. Leiria. Machado was loaned again in the following two years, first to

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...

and then to

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

in the French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

. Alongside teammates Diogo Valente and

Vieirinha Adelino André Vieira de Freitas (born 24 January 1986), known as Vieirinha (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger or a full-back. Ambidextrous, he started playing for Porto, but spent most of his profess ...

, also loaned by Porto, he was instrumental as the

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

side retained their

status at the season's close. On 10 July 2008, Machado was loaned to the French club as part of the deal that brought Colombian Fredy Guarín to Porto. He adapted well, becoming an integral part of Saint-Étienne's campaign, scoring twice in his first 16 games – 12 as a starter – and only missing three league matches as they narrowly avoided relegation.

Toulouse and Olympiacos

On 2 July 2009,

Toulouse FC Toulouse Football Club () is a French professional association football, football club based in Toulouse. The club was founded in 1970 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division of Football in France, French football. Toulouse plays it ...

signed Machado to a four-year deal. In August 2012, after three seasons in which he averaged 30 appearances and four goals, he joined

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Football Club ( ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Piraeus. Part of the major Sports club, multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (''Olympiakós Sýnde ...

in Greece for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

2,700,000 on a three-year contract. He scored his first goal for his new team on 3 November, also providing an assist to

Kostas Mitroglou Konstantinos "Kostas" Mitroglou (, ; born 12 March 1988) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is nicknamed "Mitrogoal" and "Pistolero" by fans due to his goalscoring abilities. Raised in Germany, Mitroglou star ...

in a 2–0 home victory over OFI Crete FC.

Dinamo Zagreb

Machado joined

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional association football, football Football team, club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They ...

on 4 June 2014, on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He won a

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

in his first season, equalising in a 2–1 home defeat of

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...

in the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

on 8 April, followed by the winning 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 ...

at the end of the goalless

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against

RNK Split Radnički nogometni klub Split ("Workers' Football Club of Split") commonly known as RNK Split, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Split. History The club had a strong fanbase in the Split's shipyard. The club was fo ...

on 20 May. On 28 July 2015, during a

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 ...

play-off round against

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a association football, football club based in Molde Municipality, Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football league system, Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club w ...

Stadion Maksimir Maksimir Stadium (, ) is a multi-use stadium in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia. Named after the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir, it is one of the List of football stadiums in Croatia, largest stadiums in the country with a current seating capacit ...

, club fans booed Machado as he walked off the pitch while being replaced after a poor performance. In return, he made several obscene gestures for which he received a straight

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or di ...

, being subsequently suspended until further notice. Sharing teams with compatriots

Eduardo Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Dudu (footballer, born 1992) (Eduardo Pereira Rodrigues), Brazilian footballer * Eduardo (footballer, born 1 ...

and Gonçalo Santos, he won a second consecutive double, starting in the 2–1 cup final win over

NK 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 10 May.

Later years

On 2 September 2017,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Machado signed with recently promoted C.D. Aves until the end of the season. On 31 August 2018, he joined

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

franchise

Mumbai City FC Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is part of the City Football Group. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of the Ind ...

; after suffering an injury in the second half of the match against

Jamshedpur FC Jamshedpur Football Club (, ) is an Indian professional association football, football club based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football league system, Indian football. Founde ...

on 19 December 2019, he was ruled out for the rest of the campaign. Machado returned to Leixões following 12 years away in September 2020. In his one season back at the

Estádio do Mar Estádio do Mar is a multi-use stadium in Matosinhos, Portugal. It is used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports ...

, he played just under half the fixtures and scored an added-time winner as a late substitute against

Académico de Viseu F.C. Académico de Viseu Futebol Clube, commonly known as Académico de Viseu, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Viseu. Founded in 1914 as ''Clube Académico de Futebol'', the club went through several changes ...

on 28 February. In June 2021, Machado retired from playing. He went immediately into being assistant manager at his final club's under-23 team.

International career

Machado was part of the Portugal under-21 team at the 2007 UEFA European Championship. Previously, he won the Under-17 European Championships in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. On 30 September 2010, Machado was called up for the first time to the senior side by newly appointed coach

Paulo Bento Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento (; born 20 June 1969) is a Portuguese Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder with tackling ability and workrate ...

. He did not make his debut in either of the two

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

qualifiers that were scheduled, but later spoke of his smooth integration into the squad and his ambition to eventually earn a regular place in the national team. He made his debut on 17 November, coming on for Nani in the dying minutes of a 4–0 friendly victory against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 2012–13, 2013–14 *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2012–13 Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian 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. Establish ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

Croatian Football Cup The Croatian Football Cup (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the HNL championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 Aves *

: 2017–18 Portugal *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Paulo 1986 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Porto Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Padroense F.C. players FC Porto B players FC Porto players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players U.D. Leiria players Leixões S.C. players C.D. Aves players Ligue 1 players AS Saint-Étienne players Toulouse FC players Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Croatian Football League players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Indian Super League players Mumbai City FC players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in India Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in India