Ricardo Emídio Ramalho da Silva (born 26 September 1975; ) 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 lea ...

who played 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 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 264 matches and 16 goals in 15 seasons, representing in the competition

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 ...

, Marítimo,

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Está ...

, Vitória de Guimarães, Boavista,

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its Association football, football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth natio ...

and Vitória de Setúbal.

Club career

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese football, at the Estádio do B ...

youth graduate who was born in

, Silva was bought in 1995 by neighbouring

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 ...

, where he would be loaned constantly during his contract, mostly to mid-table clubs in the

, his beginnings being with

AD Esposende Associação Desportiva de Esposende ''(abbreviated as AD Esposende)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Esposende in the district of Braga. Background AD Esposende currently plays in the Terceira Divisão Série A which is the fourth ti ...

in the third division. From 1999 to 2002 he was part of Porto's first-team, but his starting XI opportunities were rare; for the 2002–03 season he was loaned for the fifth and last time, to Vitória de Guimarães. Silva returned to Boavista in summer 2003, where he knew his most steady period, playing there for four out of five campaigns (the second half of 2004–05 was spent at S.C. Beira-Mar, also in the top flight). Although almost never an undisputed starter, he did figure prominently. In February 2008, Silva moved to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

with

FC Shinnik Yaroslavl FC Shinnik Yaroslavl () is a Russian football club, based in Yaroslavl. From 1957 to 1960 the team was called Khimik ( - "the chemist"). In 1961, the club became affiliated with the , accordingly changing its name and logo (a football inside a ...

, being signed at the same time as his compatriot Bruno Basto who arrived from C.D. Nacional. In January 2010 the 34-year-old agreed on a return to his country, joining struggling

Vitória F.C. Vitória Futebol Clube (), popularly known as Vitória de Setúbal, is a Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Setúbal that used to compete in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system ...

until the end of the season, with the '' Sadinos'' eventually finishing in 14th position, the first team above the relegation zone; he later took the club to court due to unpaid wages.

International career

Silva represented Portugal at under-21 and B levels.

Honours

Porto *

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 ...

: 1999–2000, 2000–01

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Ricardo 1975 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Porto Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players FC Porto players A.D. Esposende players F.C. Felgueiras players C.S. Marítimo players U.D. Leiria players FC Porto B players Vitória S.C. players Boavista F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players Vitória F.C. players Padroense F.C. players Russian Premier League players Russian First League players FC Shinnik Yaroslavl players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's B international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Russia Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Varzim S.C. managers