Goalkeeper Rui Patrício, who had been without a club since June, ended his playing career at the age of 37, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced this Wednesday, December 10, which will organize a farewell ceremony for the 2016 European champion.
The FPF informed, in a statement, that the most capped goalkeeper in the history of the AA team (108 games) will be honored on Friday, starting at 12:00, at Cidade do Futebol, in Oeiras, having highlighted the “unique career” for the ‘quinas’ team and Patrício’s “enormous longevity” in goal for Portugal.
Rui Patrício had been without a club since the end of June, when he left Al Ain, from the United Arab Emirates, with whom he only played two games, both in the Club World Cup, after having played for Italian side Atalanta in the 2024/25 season.
The goalkeeper, born in Leiria, trained at Sporting and represented the Lions’ first team for 12 years, between 2006/07 and 2017/18, before playing for English club Wolverhampton and Roma, with whom he won the Conference League.
Wearing Portugal’s shirt, he won Euro2016 and the 2019 Nations League, and the last match for the Portuguese team took place in March 2024, in a friendly match against Sweden (5-2), in Guimarães, which preceded the presence of the Quinas team in the European Championship, in which he was a substitute for Diogo Costa, as was José Sá.
In total, Patrício participated in five European Championships (2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024) and three World Cups (2014, 2018 and 2022), as well as the 2017 Confederations Cup.