Cláudia Lima retires after making history for FC Porto Women | OneFootball

On July 25, 2024, Cláudia Isabel Espinheira Lima made FC Porto history when she was unveiled as the Club’s first-ever women’s footballer. Almost two years later, she brings her career to a close after helping the women’s team win two trophies and secure promotion to the First Division in consecutive seasons.

A native of Porto, the midfielder took her first touches at Folgosa da Maia, in a spell that lasted only a few seasons, until handball began to gain ground and, at the age of 11, she swapped the pitch for the court in a “failed attempt” to steer away from football.

In the end, passion won out and, two seasons later, she returned to the beautiful game. It was at Leixões SC that she felt the “click” and began mapping out a professional career, during a period in which she achieved promotion to the top flight – already foreshadowing the challenge she would later take on.

Before moving to the club she loves, she also represented Boavista FC and Valadares Gaia, reaching the Portuguese Cup final with the Gaia-based side, which she later captained as well. In the summer of 2024, she became the first female footballer to sign for FC Porto and wore the blue-and-white armband as the most experienced player in the squad – with seven caps for the Portuguese national team.

Her journey in the Invicta did not go unnoticed and, despite an injury at the start of her debut season, number 27 established herself as a key figure in winning the National Third Division Championship.

At the final stage of a season in which FC Porto won the national Second Division title, secured promotion to Liga BPI and reached the finals of the Portuguese Cup and the AF Porto Cup, Cláudia Lima hangs up her boots with a sense of mission accomplished, bringing a 21-year career to an end.

“I would have loved to be out there on the pitch, but unfortunately that isn’t possible, and I’m very happy to end my career at the Club I love and in a season in which we took FC Porto to Liga BPI,” she said on the Dragão pitch itself, at the close of “one of the happiest seasons of my career.”

Driven by her passion for the beautiful game and for FC Porto, the club’s first captain is currently taking the Level II Coaching Course and will join the women’s team coaching staff.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.