Rui Pedro (footballer, born 1998)

Rui Pedro da Silva e Sousa (born 20 March 1998), known as Rui Pedro, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Slovenian club Olimpija Ljubljana.

Rui Pedro
Personal information
Full name Rui Pedro da Silva e Sousa[1]
Date of birth (1998-03-20) 20 March 1998[1]
Place of birth Castelo de Paiva, Portugal[1]
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Olimpija Ljubljana
Number 99
Youth career
2009–2012 Sporting Paivense
2012–2017 Porto
2013–2014 → Padroense (loan)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Porto B 23 (5)
2016–2020 Porto 9 (2)
2017–2018 → Boavista (loan) 19 (1)
2019 → Varzim (loan) 13 (1)
2019–2020 → Granada B (loan) 14 (2)
2020 → Leixões (loan) 2 (0)
2020–2021 Leixões 13 (1)
2021–2022 Penafiel 40 (4)
2022– Olimpija Ljubljana 39 (14)
International career
2013 Portugal U15 2 (1)
2013–2014 Portugal U16 15 (3)
2014–2015 Portugal U17 11 (4)
2015–2016 Portugal U18 5 (3)
2016–2017 Portugal U19 11 (5)
2017 Portugal U20 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:37, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

Club career

Born in Castelo de Paiva, Aveiro District, Rui Pedro joined Porto's youth system in 2012, aged 14. On 24 January 2015, at the age of 16, he made his professional debut with their B team, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away loss against Oliveirense in the Segunda Liga.[2]

On 3 December 2016, whilst still a junior, Rui Pedro first appeared in the Primeira Liga with the main squad; after replacing Óliver Torres 15 minutes from the end of the home fixture against Braga, he scored the only goal in injury time, ending the club's negative run of 520 minutes without finding the net.[3] Four days later, also from the bench, he played his first match in the UEFA Champions League, as the hosts defeated already qualified Leicester City 5–0 to also reach the knockout stage;[4] late in the year, UEFA.com selected him as their "weekly wonderkid".[5]

Rui Pedro went on to serve four loans during his spell at the Estádio do Dragão, starting out at Boavista (top division),[6] then moving to Varzim (second tier),[7] Granada B (Spanish Segunda División B)[8] and Leixões (division two).[9] In September 2020, he signed a permanent two-year contract with the latter.[10]

From January 2021 to June 2022, Rui Pedro continued competing in his country's second division with Penafiel,[11] but he only managed to score five times in all competitions during his tenure. In August 2022, he agreed to a deal at Olimpija Ljubljana of the Slovenian PrvaLiga.[12]

Career statistics
As of match played 21 October 2023[13]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Continental Total
Division AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Porto B 2014–15 Segunda Liga 30———30
2015–16 LigaPro 10———10
2016–17 LigaPro 165———165
2018–19 LigaPro 3 0 — — — 3 0
Total 235———235
Porto 2016–17 Primeira Liga 9200301[lower-alpha 1]0132
Boavista (loan) 2017–18 Primeira Liga 1911000—201
Varzim (loan) 2018–19 LigaPro 13 1 0 0 0 0 — 13 1
Granada B (loan) 2019–20 Segunda División B 14 2 — — — 14 2
Leixões (loan) 2019–20 LigaPro 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 0
Leixões 2020–21 Liga Portugal 2 13 1 2 1 — — 15 2
Total 15 1 2 1 0 0 — 17 2
Penafiel 2020–21 Liga Portugal 2 16 2 0 0 — — 16 2
2021–22 Liga Portugal 2 24 2 2 0 4 1 — 30 3
Total 40 4 2 0 4 1 — 46 5
Olimpija Ljubljana 2022–23 Slovenian PrvaLiga 27 6 4 0 — 0 0 31 6
2023–24 Slovenian PrvaLiga 12 8 0 0 — 10[lower-alpha 2] 2 22 10
Total 39 14 4 0 — 10 2 53 16
Career total 17230917111219934
  1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  2. Six appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League, two appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

Honours

Porto B

Olimpija Ljubljana

Individual

References
  1. "Rui Pedro" (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  2. "Oliveirense-FC Porto B, 1–0: Golo de Rui Lima vale liderança" [Oliveirense-FC Porto B, 1–0: Rui Lima goal equals first place]. Record (in Portuguese). 24 January 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  3. "Rui Pedro acordou o Dragão, 520 minutos depois" [Rui Pedro awoke the Dragon, 520 minutes later]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 3 December 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  4. Bryan, Paul; Hart, Simon (7 December 2016). "Porto punish Leicester to reach round of 16". UEFA. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  5. "UEFA.com's weekly wonderkid: Rui Pedro". UEFA. 24 December 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  6. "FC Porto empresta Rui Pedro ao Boavista" [FC Porto loan Rui Pedro to Boavista] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  7. "Avançado Rui Pedro emprestado ao Varzim pelo FC Porto" [Forward Rui Pedro loaned to Varzim by FC Porto]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 31 January 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  8. Pereira, Sérgio; Maia, Vítor (16 August 2019). "FC Porto: Rui Pedro emprestado... ao Granada B" [FC Porto: Rui Pedro loaned... to Granada B] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  9. "FC Porto empresta avançado ao Leixões" [FC Porto loan forward to Leixões]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 31 January 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  10. "Rui Pedro: depois do adeus ao FC Porto, a oficialização no Leixões" [Rui Pedro: following goodbye to FC Porto, he is made official at Leixões]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 4 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  11. "Rui Pedro (ex-FC Porto) é reforço do Penafiel" [Rui Pedro (ex-FC Porto) is addition to Penafiel] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  12. Marques dos Santos, Pedro (13 August 2022). "Rui Pedro muda-se para a Eslovénia" [Rui Pedro moves to Slovenia]. Record (in Portuguese). Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  13. Rui Pedro at Soccerway
  14. Monteiro, André (12 May 2016). "Equipa B entrega troféu da 2.ª Liga a Pinto da Costa" [B team give 2nd League trophy to Pinto da Costa]. Record (in Portuguese). Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  15. Plestenjak, Rok (16 April 2023). "Neverjetno, kaj je uspelo Portugalcu proti Mariboru!" [Portuguese pulled up impressive feat against Maribor!] (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  16. Viškovič, Rok (6 May 2023). "Olimpija po drami v 130. minuti do dvojne krone, zanimiv niz Maribora je končan" [130-minute drama for Olimpija's double crown, Maribor's interesting run is over] (in Slovenian). Sportklub. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  17. "Technical report". UEFA. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
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