Diogo de Almeida Santos (born 13 November 1984) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for F.C. Felgueiras 1932 as a defensive midfielder.
![]() Santos in action for Arouca in 2010 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Diogo de Almeida Santos[1] | ||
Date of birth | (1984-11-13) 13 November 1984 (age 37)[1] | ||
Place of birth | Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal[1] | ||
Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[1] | ||
Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Felgueiras 1932 | ||
Youth career | |||
1995–2003 | Oliveirense | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2003–2008 | Oliveirense | 143 | (11) |
2008–2009 | Gil Vicente | 8 | (0) |
2010–2012 | Arouca | 53 | (5) |
2012–2013 | Oliveirense | 45 | (4) |
2013–2015 | Brașov | 25 | (0) |
2015–2016 | Famalicão | 37 | (1) |
2016–2019 | Santa Clara | 66 | (6) |
2019–2021 | Académico Viseu | 46 | (5) |
2021– | Felgueiras 1932 | 17 | (2) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:36, 28 July 2022 (UTC) |
Born in Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District, Santos started his senior career with U.D. Oliveirense, spending his first five seasons in the third division and scoring a career-best five goals in his last. In the 2008 off-season he signed with Gil Vicente F.C. of the Segunda Liga, making his debut in the competition on 24 August in a 1–1 away draw against his former club.[2]
Santos returned to the third tier in January 2010, joining Arouca and helping to promotion in his first year. In 2011–12 he contributed ten appearances and one goal[3] during the first half of the campaign, but finished it with Oliveirense.
On 19 June 2013, Santos moved abroad after agreeing to a two-year contract at SR Brașov in the Romanian Liga I.[4] After featuring sparingly during his spell, he returned to Portugal and its division two by signing a one-year deal with F.C. Famalicão.[5]
Santos joined C.D. Santa Clara in June 2016, reuniting with manager Daniel Ramos in the process.[6] In 2017–18, he scored three times from 26 appearances as the club returned to the Primeira Liga after a 15-year absence.
Santos played his first match in the Portuguese top flight on 12 August 2018 at the age of 33 years and nine months, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 away loss to C.S. Marítimo.[7] In the following transfer window, he returned to the second division with Académico Viseu FC.[8][9]
On 27 July 2021, Santos moved to F.C. Felgueiras 1932.[10]
In June 2022, Portugal's Supreme Court of Justice allowed Santos to proceed in a lawsuit against American video game company Electronic Arts for the alleged unauthorised use of his name and image in their FIFA series. Citing Lionel Messi's US$50 million deal with the company, he requested at least €53,900.[11] Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote that he was the first footballer to take EA to court, although Zlatan Ibrahimović and Gareth Bale's case against the company had been dismissed; the newspaper also stated that the use of all footballers' images was legitimate due to a deal with the FIFPro trade union.[12]