Hugo Almeida Portuguese football player Date of Birth: 23.05.1984 Country: Portugal

Hugo Almeida: Biography

Hugo Miguel Pereira de Almeida was born on May 23, 1984, in Figueira da Foz, Portugal. He began playing football at Associação Naval 1º de Maio in his hometown before signing a contract with Porto. Almeida made his debut for Porto in a match against Benfica on September 21, 2003, but only played for three minutes. He struggled to secure a place in the starting lineup and was loaned out to União de Leiria and Boavista.

In the 2005-2006 season, Almeida returned to Porto and became an important player for the team, helping them win the national championship. He scored a spectacular free-kick goal from 35 meters against Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League, although Portugal ultimately lost 1-2. In August 2007, Edgar and Ernesto Farías joined Porto, reducing Almeida's chances of success. As a result, he decided to leave Porto and accepted an offer from Werder Bremen, signing a contract worth €4 million for four years.

With the departure of Miroslav Klose to Bayern Munich, Almeida had the opportunity to become a leader at Werder Bremen. In the 2007-2008 season, he scored seven goals in the first 12 games and a total of 16 goals, 11 of which were in the league. Almeida continued to perform well in the 2008-2009 season, scoring nine goals in the league. In the UEFA Cup, he scored only one goal in eight games on his team's path to the final, missing the deciding match against FC Shakhtar Donetsk due to a yellow card received in the semifinals against Hamburger SV.

On December 24, 2010, Almeida signed with Turkish club Beşiktaş for 3.5 years. Internationally, Almeida represented Portugal at various age levels. He made his full debut in a friendly match against England on February 18, 2004, and was part of the Portuguese team that won the Toulon Tournament in 2003. He also appeared in the finals of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in 2004 and 2006.

Almeida scored his first international goal in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Azerbaijan and scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Armenia. He played in the final matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and scored three goals in a match against North Korea. Almeida was selected by Paulo Bento, the new manager of the Portuguese national team for Euro 2012, as the third-choice striker behind Hélder Postiga and Nélson Oliveira.