Nuno Morais

For the Portuguese sprinter, see Nuno Morais (athlete).

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Barbosa and the second or paternal family name is Morais.
Nuno Morais
Morais as a Chelsea player
Personal information
Full name Nuno Miguel Barbosa Morais[1]
Date of birth (1984-01-29) 29 January 1984 (age 40)[1]
Place of birth Penafiel, Portugal[1]
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder, centre-back
Youth career
1994–2002 Penafiel
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 Penafiel 49 (2)
2004–2007 Chelsea 4 (0)
2005–2006 → Marítimo (loan) 17 (0)
2007–2019 APOEL 347 (44)
Total 417 (46)
International career
2004 Portugal U20 3 (0)
2004–2006 Portugal U21 14 (0)
2006 Portugal B 1 (0)
Managerial career
2020–2021 APOEL (assistant)
2021–2023 APOEL (youth)
2023–2024 APOEL (assistant)
2024– Raja CA (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nuno Miguel Barbosa Morais (born 29 January 1984) is a Portuguese former professional footballer. Mainly a defensive midfielder, he could also appear as a central defender.

He was signed by Chelsea in 2004, but stayed only two years with the club, going on to spend the vast majority of his career with APOEL and win 16 major titles, including nine Cypriot First Division championships.[2]

Career

Chelsea

Born in Penafiel, Porto District, Morais started his career at his hometown club F.C. Penafiel, but in August 2004 was signed by England's Chelsea for an undisclosed fee on a three-year contract, after a successful trial period.[3] He made his debut for the latter in an FA Cup win against Scunthorpe United in January 2005, playing the full 90 minutes.[4] His first Premier League appearance occurred on 10 May, as a late substitute in a 3–1 away victory over Manchester United.[5]

Due to the fact that Morais struggled to get first team action in his first season, he was loaned to C.S. Marítimo in 2005–06, alongside compatriot Filipe Oliveira.[6] In that summer, he appeared twice for the Portuguese under-21s at the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship on home soil, with Oliveira.[7]

APOEL

Morais at APOEL

Returning to Chelsea, Morais only appeared twice in the league, totalling less than 20 minutes in home draws against Manchester United[8] and Everton[9] and playing three times between the FA Cup and the Football League Cup.[10][11][12] On 11 May 2007, he signed a two-year deal with Cypriot champions APOEL FC on a free transfer.[13]

Morais was converted to a defensive midfielder during his time in Nicosia, and signed a new contract until June 2012. Since his debut he was an essential defensive unit as the side won, amongst other trophies, nine championships, three cups and four super cups; he also appeared in all six group-stage matches of the club in its first participation in the UEFA Champions League.

In the 2011–12 Champions League, Morais was an undisputed starter for the side as they reached the quarter-finals for the first time ever, playing all ten fixtures – including the round-of-16 defeat of Olympique Lyonnais where he converted his attempt in the penalty shootout.[14][15] On 4 May 2012, he agreed to a three-year extension to his link.[16]

During 2013–14, Morais appeared in every group stage game in APOEL's UEFA Europa League campaign, and scored the 2–1 winner against FC Girondins de Bordeaux at GSP Stadium.[17] The following season, he was also first-choice in his team's Champions League campaign.[18]

On 7 May 2016, following a league match against Apollon Limassol FC, Morais reached 251 for APOEL and became the foreigner with the most appearances in the history of the Cypriot top division.[19] On 16 August, after playing against F.C. Copenhagen in the Champions League play-off round, he reached a club-best 81 games in European competitions.[20]

Morais retired in July 2019, at the age of 35. He finished his career as APOEL's highest appearance maker of all time, with 524 matches to his name.[21] Following his retirement, he remained at his main club as the youth team coach and assistant manager, joining the coaching team of compatriot Ricardo Sá Pinto in June 2023.[22]

On 23 November 2024, Morais rejoined Sá Pinto's staff at Raja CA.

Career statistics

[23][24][25][26]

Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other[a] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Penafiel 2002–03 Liga de Honra 17 0 2 1 — — — 19 1
2003–04 32 2 3 0 — — — 35 2
Total 49 2 5 1 — — — 54 3
Chelsea 2004–05 Premier League 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 — 4 0
Marítimo 2005–06 Primeira Liga 17 0 3 0 — — — 20 0
Total 17 0 3 0 — — — 20 0
Chelsea 2006–07 Premier League 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Total 4 0 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 9 0
APOEL 2007–08 Cypriot First Division 13 0 8 1 — 2 0 — 23 1
2008–09 30 3 5 0 — 6 0 1 0 42 3
2009–10 29 1 5 0 — 11 0 1 0 46 1
2010–11 30 0 2 0 — 3 0 — 35 0
2011–12 28 1 3 2 — 16 1 1 0 48 4
2012–13 27 4 2 0 — 6 0 — 35 4
2013–14 34 5 7 0 — 10 1 1 0 52 6
2014–15 27 2 6 0 — 10 0 1 0 44 2
2015–16 34 3 6 1 — 12 0 1 0 53 4
2016–17 33 3 7 0 — 15 0 1 0 56 3
2017–18 34 9 0 0 — 12 0 1 0 47 9
2018–19 28 13 6 0 — 8 2 1 0 43 15
Total 347 44 57 4 — 111 4 9 0 524 52
Career total 417 46 68 5 1 0 112 4 9 0 607 55
  1. ^ Appearance in Cypriot Super Cup

Honours

Chelsea

APOEL

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Nuno Morais" (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  2. ^ Balreira, Filipe (7 May 2019). "Nuno Morais: Capitão que conquistou o Chipre" [Nuno Morais: Captain who conquered Cyprus]. Record (in Portuguese). Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Chelsea snap up Morais". BBC Sport. 29 August 2004. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  4. ^ "Chelsea 3–1 Scunthorpe". BBC Sport. 8 January 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  5. ^ "Man Utd 1–3 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  6. ^ "Chelsea cede Nuno Morais" [Chelsea loan Nuno Morais]. Jornal de Notícias (in Portuguese). 26 July 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Portugal perde por 1–0 com França na estreia" [Portugal lose 1–0 to France in debut] (in Portuguese). TSF. 23 May 2006. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  8. ^ McNulty, Phil (9 May 2007). "Chelsea 0–0 Man Utd". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  9. ^ Stevenson, Jonathan (13 May 2007). "Chelsea 1–1 Everton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  10. ^ Cheese, Caroline (6 January 2007). "Chelsea 6–1 Macclesfield". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  11. ^ Phillips, Owen (23 January 2007). "Chelsea 4–0 Wycombe (Agg: 5–1)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  12. ^ Chowdhury, Saj (28 January 2007). "Chelsea 3–0 Nottingham Forest". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  13. ^ "Chelsea's Morais moves to Cyprus". BBC Sport. 12 May 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  14. ^ Haslam, Andrew (7 March 2012). "Lyon stunned as APOEL fairy tale continues". UEFA. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  15. ^ Machado, Catarina (8 March 2012). "APOEL nos quartos da Champions: sim, é verdade" [APOEL in the Champions' last-eight: yes, it's true] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  16. ^ Ανανέωσε ο Μοράϊς [Morais boost] (in Greek). APOEL FC. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  17. ^ "Alexandrou rocket helps APOEL achieve lift-off". UEFA. 7 November 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  18. ^ "APOEL FC". UEFA. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  19. ^ "APOEL star Nuno Morais breaks league appearances record". Sigma Live. 8 May 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  20. ^ Mavrou, Andrea (17 August 2016). Ο "άθλος" του Νούνο Μοράις [The "feat" of Nuno Morais] (in Greek). Goal. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  21. ^ "Nuno Morais coloca ponto final na carreira" [Nuno Morais puts the full stop to his career]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 3 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  22. ^ "Sá Pinto vai treinar o APOEL na próxima época" [Sá Pinto will manage APOEL next season]. Público (in Portuguese). 8 June 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  23. ^ Nuno Morais at ForaDeJogo (archived) Edit this at Wikidata
  24. ^ Nuno Morais at Soccerbase Edit this at Wikidata
  25. ^ a b c d e f Nuno Morais at Soccerway
  26. ^ Nuno Morais at WorldFootball.net

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