Best of Ricardinho: The all-time Futsal EURO and UEFA futsal club competition top scorer
Monday, August 18, 2025
Article summary
Ricardinho has ended a two-decade career where he not only won everything and set many records, but also sprinkled his magic on some of futsal's most famous moments.
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Ricardinho has announced his retirement from futsal three weeks before his 40th birthday, ending a two-decade career that is almost without parallel in the sport.
With Portugal and Benfica, Japan's Nagoya Oceans, Spain's Inter FS, France's ACCS Asnières Villeneuve 92, Indonesia's Pendekar United, Latvia's Riga Futsal Club and Italy's Genzano, Ricardinho won more than 30 major trophies (including a FIFA Futsal World Cup, UEFA Futsal EURO 2018 and three UEFA Futsal Cups) as well as a clutch of individual honours. He retires as all-time top scorer in both UEFA Futsal EURO final tournaments and UEFA futsal club competition (where he reached his first final with Benfica in 2003/04 and came close to helping Riga to the last four 20 years later in 2023/24).
But Ricardinho's status was not just about trophies or statistics. Throughout his career he was a scorer of spectacular goals and deployed a set of outrageous skills that drew attention beyond the world of futsal. It made him a fan favourite throughout Europe and the world, with Ricardinho generous with his time to provide autographs and selfies for fans after games whatever the result.
We look at Ricardinho's achievements, mixed in with some of his most spectacular moments in UEFA competition, and click on the player above to watch the episode of our futsal documentary Think Fast dedicated to the man dubbed 'O Mágico'.
The numbers
Portugal
Debut: 26 June 2003 vs Andorra
Last appearance: 7 April 2022 vs Belgium
Portugal caps/goals: 188/142
UEFA Futsal EURO finals appearances/goals: 21/22
UEFA Futsal EURO winner: 2018
FIFA Futsal World Cup finals appearances/goals: 23/22
FIFA Futsal World Cup winner 2021
Club
UEFA club competition debut: 15 October 2003 (Benfica vs. Kaskada Gracanica)
UEFA club competition final appearance: 2 December 2023 (Riga Futsal Club vs Barça)
UEFA club competition appearances/goals: 73/60 (Benfica, Inter FS, ACCS Asnières Villeneuve 92, Riga Futsal Club)
UEFA Futsal Cup winner: 2010 (Benfica), 2017, 2018 (Inter FS)
UEFA Futsal Cup finals top scorer: 2017 (Inter FS)
Portuguese league winner: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012 (Benfica)
Japanese league winner: 2011, 2013 (Nagoya Oceans)
Spanish league winner: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 (Inter FS)
French league winner: 2021 (ACCS Asnières Villeneuve 92)
Latvian league winner: 2024 (Riga Futsal Club)
Individual awards
Futsal Planet best player in the world: 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 (record)
UEFA Futsal EURO top scorer: 2016 (joint), 2018
UEFA Futsal EURO player of the tournament: 2018
FIFA Futsal World Cup top scorer: 2016
FIFA Futsal World Cup player of the tournament: 2021
UEFA Futsal EURO final tournament all-time top scorers
22 Ricardinho (Portugal)
20 Konstantin Eremenko (Russia)
17 Eder Lima (Russia)
16 Daniel (Spain)
15 Serhiy Koridze (Ukraine)
UEFA futsal club competition all-time top scorers
60 Ricardinho (Benfica, Inter FS, Riga Futsal Club)
54 André Vanderlei (Action 21 Charleroi, Châtelineau Futsal)
50 Lúcio (Action 21 Charleroi, Iberia Tbilisi, Futsal Team Charleroi)
45 Vitaliy Borisov (AMMK Baku, Olimpik, Araz Naxçivan, Ekonomac Kragujevac)
44 Cirilo (FC Dynamo, Lokomotiv Daugavpils)
