Mateus Lima Cruz (born 18 January 1993), known as Mateus, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a forward for Thai League 1 side Nakhon Ratchasima.
Club career Born in Iturama, Minas Gerais, Mateus Lima was a Grêmio Barueri youth graduate. After a short loan spell at Sport Barueri, he made his professional debut on 17 November 2012, starting in a 2–0 home win against Avaí for the Série B championship.
On 4 February 2013, Mateus Lima moved to Sport Recife. After only appearing for the club in the Campeonato Pernambucano, he joined Guarani on 10 December.
On 16 January 2014, Mateus Lima signed for Luverdense. He scored his first professional goal on 19 November, but in a 1–2 home loss against América Mineiro; he added another ten days later, netting the game's only in a home success over Ceará.
On 20 February 2015, Mateus Lima agreed to a contract with Operário Ferroviário. He was crowned champions of the year's Campeonato Paranaense, but appeared rarely.
In June 2015, Mateus Lima signed with Albanian Champions Skënderbeu Korçë as a reinforcement for the club's campaign in Champions League after the departures of Aco Stojkov, Dhiego Martins and Fatjon Sefa. The Brazilian striker was also a target of FK Kukësi. In his unofficial debut on 16 June, Lima scored in his debut after 29 minutes in an eventual 2–1 win against Romanian side. Despite scoring in his debut, however, he was not named in Skënderbeu's squad list for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League because he did not convince his coach Mirel Josa in his appearances.
In July 2015, after just one month with Skënderbeu Korçë, Mateus Lima left the club and signed with Kukesi. In the 2015–16 campaign, he scored seven league goals in 27 league appearances, along with three goals in the Albanian Cup.
In July 2016, Mateus Lima joined Santos, and was assigned to the B-team squad.
On the last day of the summer transfer window 2017, Mateus Lima signed with the Serbian SuperLiga side Borac Čačak.
In the summer of 2018, Mateus Lima signed a two-year contract with the Croatian First Football League side Slaven Belupo.
On 17 August 2020 he signed with Hapoel Nof HaGalil.
Career statistics
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueState LeagueCupLeague CupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGrêmio Barueri2012Série B2000————202013Série C0030————30Total2030————50Sport Barueri (loan)2012Paulista Série B—277————277Sport2013Série B0010330———133Guarani2014Série C000000———00Luverdense2014Série B42113————155Operário Ferroviário2015Série D0031————31Kukësi2015–16Albanian Superliga277—43———3110Santos2016Série A00—00——6Appearance(s) in Copa Paulista060Borac Čačak2017–18Serbian SuperLiga308—20———328Slaven Belupo2018–19Croatian First Football League215—20———2352019–20302—40———342Total517—60———577Hapoel Nof HaGalil2020–21Liga Leumit299—1040——349Hapoel Rishon LeZion2021–22Liga Leumit347—10——10367Nasaf2022Uzbekistan Super League132—31———1632023214—61—5110336Total346—92—5110496Ratchaburi2023–24Thai League 1125——20——145Sukhothai2024–25Thai League 1131—1010——151Guangxi Pingguo2025China League One155—10———165Total25157541422570518035374
Honours Operário Ferroviário Campeonato Paranaense: 2015
References
External links