Rui da Gracia

Rui
Personal information
Full name	Rui Fernando da Gracia Gomes
Date of birth	28 May 1985 (age 39)
Place of birth	Bembibre, Spain
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Colmenar Viejo
Number	5
Youth career
	Bembibre
Senior career*
Years	Team
2004–2005	Bembibre
2005–2006	Elche B
2006–2007	Elche Ilicitano
2007–2009	Real Ávila
2009–2011	Palencia
2011–2012	Logroñés
2012–2013	Enosis Neon Paralimni
2013–2014	Real Ávila
2014–2018	Hibernians
2018–2019	Villarrubia
2019–2022	Gimnástica Segoviana
2022–2023	Collado Villalba
2023–	Colmenar Viejo
International career‡
2010–2021	Equatorial Guinea
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 June 2024.; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 September 2021

Rui Fernando da Gracia Gomes (born 28 May 1985), simply known as Rui, is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Preferente Madrid club Colmenar Viejo. Born and raised in Spain to Cape Verdean parents, he has been capped for the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Early life

Rui was born in Bembibre, Castile and León to Cape Verdean parents from São Nicolau,^[2] who had emigrated to Portugal in the mid-1970s and then to Spain.^[3]

Club career

Rui is a product of CA Bembibre. He has developed most of his club career in his homecountry Spain, also playing in Cyprus and Malta, where he was a two-time Maltese Premier League champion with Hibernians FC.

International career

Rui represented Cape Verde in the 2003 and 2009 editions of Mundialito,^[4]^[5] a Spanish-based tournament where the participant teams are entirely composed by amateur footballers from the different foreign diasporas in Spain and do not use to be linked to their respective official national teams. He was never contacted by the Cape Verdean Football Federation to play for the official Cape Verde national team.^[3] He also played for the Spanish autonomous team of Castile and León.^[6]^[7]

While playing for Spanish club CF Palencia,^[8] Rui was invited by Equatorial Guinean international midfielder Benjamín Zarandona, who was then his teammate, to become a naturalised citizen of Equatorial Guinea in order to play for its national team.^[9]

In July 2010, Rui received his first call for the Equatoguinean senior team and to play a friendly match against Morocco on 11 August 2010. However, he didn't attend due to injury.

Rui's first incursion with Equatorial Guinea on 12 October 2010, when he participated in a friendly lost against Botswana by 0–2 in Malabo.^[9]

Rui was part of the squad for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, being a first-choice defender for the Nzalang Nacional.

International goals

Scores and results list Equatorial Guinea's goal tally first.^[1]

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	15 November 2015	Estadio de Bata, Bata, Equatorial Guinea	Morocco	1–0	1–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

References

^ ^a ^b Rui da Gracia at Soccerway. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
^ "Rui Fernando, o cabo-verdiano na selecção da Guiné Equatorial" [Rui Fernando, the Cape Verdean in the Equatorial Guinea national team] (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Un país, una historia: Guinea Ecuatorial, por Pancho Jaúregui". Fundación Sur (in Spanish). 10 June 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
^ "Las 12 selecciones" [The 12 national teams] (in Spanish). AS.com. 14 June 2003. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
^ "Untitled Document" (in Spanish). Telefonica en el Mundialito. Archived from the original on 8 December 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
^ "FASE FINAL VI COPA DE LAS REGIONES DE UEFA". Castile and León Football Federation (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
^ "Castilla y León, imbatible". Castile and León Football Federation (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
^ J. Santiago. "Rui, un berciano en la Copa de África" (in Spanish). La Crónica de León. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Rui: "Debutar con Guinea Ecuatorial ha sido una experiencia maravillosa"" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2018. It is very long to explain (his call with Equatorial Guinea, despite his ancestry is from Cape Verde). Benjamin moved everything. They have naturalised me as an Equatorial Guinean and I am delighted to have debuted with their national team.