Matilde Fidalgo

Matilde Mota Veiga Santiago Fidalgo (born 15 May 1994) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a right-back or a centre-back for Spanish Liga F club Real Betis and the Portugal women's national team.

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Mota Veiga and the second or paternal family name is Santiago Fidalgo.
Matilde Fidalgo
Personal information
Full name Matilde Mota Veiga Santiago Fidalgo
Date of birth (1994-05-15) 15 May 1994
Place of birth São Domingos de Benfica, Portugal
Height 1.59 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Betis
Number 22
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2017 CF Benfica 63 (10)
2017–2018 Sporting CP 14 (1)
2018–2019 SC Braga 16 (0)
2018 SC Braga B 1 (0)
2019–2020 Manchester City 2 (0)
2020–2021 Benfica 23 (1)
2022– Betis 13 (0)
International career‡
2011–2013 Portugal U19 24 (0)
2013– Portugal 47 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 March 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 March 2022

Fidalgo made her senior debut for Portugal in September 2013 and represented her country at UEFA Women's Euro 2017.

Career

Club

Fidalgo was born in São Domingos de Benfica, Lisbon and from a young age has played football. In 2009, Fidalgo started her career at CF Benfica in the Portuguese League. She played for the Lisbon club until June 2017 when she moved to Sporting CP.[1][2] With Benfica, Fidalgo won one national title in the 2015/2016 season[3] and was elected "Best Player" for the 2015/2016 season by the "Sindicato dos Jogadores Profissionais de Futebol (SJPF)". She also captained the team for several seasons.[4] In March 2018, Fidalgo won the "Quinas de Ouro" award as one of the "11 Best Players in the Women's League". The award is given by the Portuguese Football Federation.[5][6] In 2018 she moved to the rival team SC Braga,[7] with whom she won the Portuguese League title – Braga's first championship win. On 30 May 2019, it was announced that Fidalgo was signed to Women's Super League team Manchester City.[8] Fidalgo moved to S.L Benfica on 4 August 2020, after only making two league appearances and becoming third-choice behind Janine Beckie and even Georgia Stanway, who was not a natural right-back.

International

On February 22, 2011, Fidalgo debuted for Portugal U19 in a win against Finland U19 for the 2011 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship Qualifying Round.[9] She also represented Portugal at the qualifying stages of the 2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship and the 2013 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. On September 26, 2013, Fidalgo debuted for the Portuguese Senior Team in a win against Greece, a 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification's match.[10] Since then, she represented Portugal in several international competitions including the qualifying stages for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 and the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. On July 6, 2017, Fidalgo was called by coach Francisco Neto to represent Portugal at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017, the first time the Portuguese team reached the final stage of a big international tournament.[11] She didn't play in any matches as her team was eliminated while still in the Group Stage.[12]

Personal life

Fidalgo is a cousin of Bernardo Silva.[13] Both were born in 1994, share the same great-grandparents, play internationally for the Portugal national team and once both played their club football at Manchester City.[13]

Honours

CF Benfica

Sporting CP

SC Braga

Manchester City

Benfica

References
  1. "SPORTING CONTRATA MATILDE FIDALGO". Record. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  2. "Matilde Fidalgo assina pelo Sporting". Diário de Notícias. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  3. "Matilde Fidalgo". Soccerway. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  4. "MATILDE FIDALGO É A MELHOR JOGADORA". Sindicato dos Jogadores. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  5. "Saiba quem são os vencedores das Quinas de Ouro 2018". Correio da Manhã. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  6. "Futebol feminino: o melhor onze de 2017". O Jogo. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  7. "player profile". FPF.pt. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  8. Borges, Claudia. "City sign Matilde Fidalgo". www.mancity.com. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  9. "Portugal – Finlândia". Portuguese Football Federation. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  10. "Grécia – Portugal". Portuguese Football Federation. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  11. "As eleitas para o Europeu". Portuguese Football Federation. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  12. "Matilde Fidalgo". Portuguese Football Federation. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  13. "Bernardo Silva e Matilde: primos à conversa na seleção". Bancada.pt. 10 June 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
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