Rui Miguel Marques Baião (born 4 September 1980) is a Portuguese former

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

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 ...

Club career

Born in Montijo,

Setúbal District The District of Setúbal ( ) is a district located in the south-west of Portugal. It is named for its capital, the city of Setúbal. Geography It is delimited by Lisbon District and Santarém District on the north, Évora District on the eas ...

, Baião joined

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

's youth system at the age of 15, making his senior debuts with the B-team in the third division. His maiden appearance 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 ...

occurred on 8 April 2001, as he started in a 3–0 home win against C.S. Marítimo on 8 April 2001, and he scored the first of three goals in the competition during his career on 20 May of that year in a 1–1 draw at S.C. Salgueiros. After terminating his contract, Baião was supposed to sign with

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 ...

via Varzim S.C. but it never materialized. From 2002 to 2011 he alternated between the top flight and the second level, representing Varzim, C.F. Estrela da Amadora, Gil Vicente FC, Portimonense SC,

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

and

C.D. Fátima Centro Desportivo de Fátima, simply known as Fátima, is a Portuguese football club based in Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém. Founded in 1966, it holds home matches at ''Estádio Papa Francisco'', with a capacity of 1,545 spectators. C ...

. He also had a brief stint in Greece, with A.O. Kerkyra. Baião retired in January 2014 whilst at the service of lower league side C.D. Pinhalnovense, due to a heart condition. He was 33 years old.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baiao, Rui 1980 births Living people Footballers from Montijo, Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica B players F.C. Alverca players S.L. Benfica footballers Varzim S.C. players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Gil Vicente F.C. players Portimonense S.C. players S.C. Olhanense players C.D. Fátima players C.D. Pinhalnovense players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players A.O. Kerkyra players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen