Rafael Guimarães Lopes (born 28 July 1991) is a Portuguese 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 ...

who plays 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 ...

for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus official ...

club

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

Club career

Portugal

Born in

Esposende Esposende () is a city and a municipality in Braga District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 34,254, in an area of 95.41 km². The city itself (the parish Esposende, Marinhas e Gandra) had a population of 9,197 in 2001. It gained cit ...

Braga District The district of Braga ( pt, Distrito de Braga ) is a district in the northwest of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Braga, and it is bordered by the district of Viana do Castelo in the north, Vila Real in the east, Spain (Galicia) i ...

, Lopes started his senior career with

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football team based in Póvoa de Varzim, near Porto in the north of the country. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since it was founded. The club p ...

in the Segunda Liga. In the summer of 2011 he moved to 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 ...

after joining Vitória FC, making his debut in the competition on 9 September when he came on as a late substitute in a 3–0 away loss against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, 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 football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Por ...

. He scored his first goal for his new club on 18 December, helping to a 1–1 draw at C.D. Nacional. In the 2013 off-season, after failing to find the net for

Moreirense F.C. Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho Province, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home gam ...

in 21 bench appearances and suffering top-level relegation, Lopes returned to division two with

F.C. Penafiel Futebol Clube de Penafiel ( or ) is a Portuguese football club founded on 8 February 1951 and based in the city of Penafiel. Brief history Penafiel first reached the first division in 1980–81, first lasting two seasons. They also played the ...

. He moved back to the top tier the following winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer ...

, signing for Académica de Coimbra until June 2016. On 20 June 2016, after another

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

, Lopes joined fellow league side

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese football club from Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Estádio Municipal de Chaves. Their home kit is red-and-bl ...

on a one-year contract. Two of his league goals during the campaign came in consecutive 2–2 draws in early January 2017, against

Rio Ave F.C. Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlanti ...

and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

Omonia

On 10 July 2017, Lopes agreed to a two-year deal with

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia ("Harmony"; also trans ...

from the

. He made his debut on 10 September in the season opener, a 2–1 home win against

Ethnikos Achna FC Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club curren ...

Return to Portugal and Poland

Lopes returned to his homeland in July 2018, on a one-year contract at

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 ...

. He scored just three times during his spell at the

Estádio do Bessa The Estádio do Bessa (now ''Estádio do Bessa Sec. XXI'') is a football stadium located in the Boavista area of Porto, Portugal, used by Boavista F.C. Like other stadiums used in Euro 2004, the Bessa is a new ground but built on top of the old s ...

, once in the fourth round of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of 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 Placard since the 2015–16 seas ...

to help dispose of hosts

S.C. Espinho Sporting Clube de Espinho, also known as Sporting de Espinho, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Espinho in the Aveiro district. Besides football, the club has volleyball and handball departments that usually compete in the major Po ...

4–0. On 29 May 2019, Lopes moved to the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

by signing a two-year deal with

KS Cracovia {{Short description, Sports club based in Kraków Cracovia is a multi-sports club in Kraków, Poland. Its teams include: * MKS Cracovia (football) *Cracovia (handball) * MKS Cracovia (ice hockey) MKS Cracovia SSA, commonly referred to as Cracovi ...

. He netted a career-best 12 goals in his only season, also helping the club to

win Win or WIN may refer to: * A victory Arts and entertainment Film * '' Win!'', a 2016 American film Literature * ''Win'' (Coben novel), a 2121 novel by Harlan Coben * WIN (pacifist magazine), published by the War Resisters League * WIN (wrest ...

its first-ever

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa titl ...

after beating

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

3–2 in

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

. Lopes joined

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

for

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. He contributed four goals during that campaign for the champions.

Later career

On 10 July 2021, Lopes signed for two seasons with

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

from Cyprus.

International career

Lopes was part of the Portugal squad at the

2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 18th FIFA U-20 World Cup. Colombia hosted the tournament between 29 July and 20 August 2011, with matches being played in eight cities. The tournament was won by Brazil who claimed their fifth title. At a FI ...

. He played four matches in the tournament held in Colombia, in an eventual runner-up finish.

Honours

Cracovia *

: 2019–20 Legia Warsaw *

Portugal U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when ...

runner-up: 2011 Orders * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Knight BAR

Knight of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of t ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes, Rafael 1991 births Living people People from Esposende Sportspeople from Braga District Portuguese footballers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players A.D. Esposende players Varzim S.C. players Vitória F.C. players Moreirense F.C. players F.C. Penafiel players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players G.D. Chaves players Boavista F.C. players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players AEK Larnaca FC players Ekstraklasa players MKS Cracovia (football) players Legia Warsaw players Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Poland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Poland