Ruben Ribeiro

Ruben Tiago Rodrigues Ribeiro (born 1 August 1987) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Turkish club Hatayspor.

Club Career

Born in Porto, Ribeiro spent most of his youth career with local Boavista F.C. before joining Leixoes S.C. in 2002 to complete his formation. He only managed to amass 13 league appearances in his first three senior seasons combined, ten of which in 2008–09, spent in the Primeira Liga; his debut in the competition took place on 15 September 2007, when he came on as a late substitute in a 0–0 away draw against precisely Boavista.

Ribeiro played with F.C. Penafiel in the 2011–12 campaign, in the second division. On 22 June 2012 he returned to the top flight, signing for four years with S.C. Beira-Mar.

In the summer of 2013, after scoring a career-best six goals which was not enough to help prevent relegation, Ribeiro joined fellow league club F.C. Pacos de Ferreira on a three-year contract. He scored once during the first half of his first season, later labelling his spell there as "the worst" of his career, before spending the better part of the following months on loan to Rio Ave F.C. and Gil Vicente F.C. also in the top tier.

On 7 January 2016, Ribeiro returned to Boavista on deal running until 30 June. He played his first league match 11 days later, when he featured the entire 4–0 home win over Vitoria de Setubal.

In the subsequent off-season, Ribeiro agreed a to a two-year contract at former club Rio Ave. He started 27 times in his debut campaign, helping the Luis Castro-led side to a seventh-place finish.

On 13 December 2017, Ribeiro was one of three players on target in the 3–2 home defeat of S.L. Benfica in the Taca de Portugal. Late in the month, he signed with Sporting CP who paid €400,000 to acquire his services on a two-and-a-half-year deal effective as of 11 January 2018. He was awarded the #7 jersey who had been previously worn by several players who failed to perform at the club, and made