Player Profile: Simão Sabrosa

By: Greg | December 5th, 2008

Hi everyone, my name is Greg, and I will be helping Al write the Atletico Madrid Offside while he is on leave near the end of the month, but I figured I would starting writing a few pages now to get the hang of things. Please, be brutal with me, I need to be the perfect Offside writer. A little about me is that I’ve been watching football religiously since 2006, during the World Cup. I didn’t really go into the competition following a team, but I soon found myself gravitating towards the Portugal National Team, and one player really stuck out to me: Simao Sabrosa. Reason he stuck out to me: he played for my Benfica team in Fifa ‘06.

BUT ANYWAYS. He now plays for Atletico, so why shouldn’t I write a piece on him? Let me just roll my sleeves up, here I go.

Simao Pedro Fonseca Sabrosa was born on Halloween in 1979, in Constantim, Portugal. He started his professional football career at Sporting Lisbon at the age of 17. At age 19, he was brought onto the Senior national team by then coach Humberto Coelho, making his debut against Isreal and scoring a goal as well. He played for sporting for 2 years, playing 53 matches, and scoring 12 goals. While there, he became known for his ability to score from freekicks, and in the summer of 1999 he made a 15 million switch to FC Barcelona, and given the number 20.

At Barcelona, he found himself a bench warmer his first season, but breaking into the first team in the 2000/2001 season. He was still able to keep his place on the National squad, but after 2 seasons and 46 appearances with only 3 goals, He wanted a move back to the Portuguese Liga. In the summer of 2001, his wish was granted, and he moved to SL Benfica for 12 million Euros.

At Benfica, his career flourished. He was an integral player in each season, scoring 10 goals in his first four seasons. He established himself as a natural leader among the team, and became captain in his first season with the club. Being such a talented footballer, he was always linked to a move away from Benfica, with notable clubs such as Liverpool, Arsenal, and Valencia after him. After six years with the club, and scoring a total of 95 goals in 230 games, he made a 20 million move to the Spanish capital, playing for the better half of the city at Atletico Madrid.

He acquired the number 24 jersey at Atletico as his prefer club number, 20, was already occupied by Mista. In his first season back in La Liga, he fell right into the first team, making 30 appearances and scoring 7 goals. in the 2008/2009 season, Mista was sold, giving Simao the opportunity to wear his rightful number 20. With Atletico return to the Champions league, Simao stepped up with some important goals, notably a late equalizer against liverpool.

So far, that is Simao’s story. Apart from football, hes also written two books and put out a DVD for children, teaching them the basics of football. How nice is that? If none of this convinces you that hes a cool guy, hopefully this video will. After the 2:28 mark, just listen how cool the commentator says his name.