Discover the story of Murilo Henrique: from waiter in restaurants to assisting in the fields

The 27-year-old Murilo plays in Finland

Josué Seixas

2023-10-27 07:34:01

Image Credits: © (Courtesy)

Murilo Henrique is a 27-year-old left-back, born in Linhares in Espírito, and who, like most Brazilian children, dreamed of playing football. To achieve his goal, he entered a small school to practice the sport in the city of Linhares, a Brazilian municipality on the coast of the state of Espírito Santo, Southeast Region of Brazil. At the age of 16, he moved to São Francisco do Conde, in Bahia, but the following year he was called up for a test at Rio Ave, in Portugal.

At the Portuguese club, Murilo began training with the main team, in addition to the youth teams and it was there that he met and was a contemporary of goalkeeper Ederson, who is now at Manchester City. In addition to playing football, Murilo worked as a waiter in a restaurant in the city.

“I worked in a restaurant owned by a friend from Espírito Santo. That same friend was the one who brought me to Rio Ave. I needed to work to stay in the country, in addition to football. This helped me a lot and motivated me to train even more. It was an important process to achieve everything I dreamed of”, says Murilo.

The Brazilian received an offer to move to Varzim, also from Portugal, where he stayed for a year and played for the Portuguese team’s B team. In 2015, still 20 years old, the full-back returned to Brazil and played in the state championship for Linhares, a team from his city. At the end of the tournament, he went to Rio Branco, a club in Acre, and stayed until the end of the year.

In the following year, Murilo transferred to an amateur club in Spain, Areas and returned to Rio Ave. He even returned to Spain, but it was in 2020 when the opportunity to play in Finnish football arose and life took a turn new chapter.

“We don’t have much news about Finnish football, but when the chance came to come here, I jumped at it. It’s a very well-structured country and football is at a good level. I really like being here and I’ve adapted very well to everything” , tells Murilo.

His team, SJK, finished the first phase of this year’s Championship in third place overall, qualifying for the final playoffs, where they finished in fourth place. The Brazilian full-back was one of the highlights not only of his club, but of the entire championship. In total, there were 27 games and 10 assists for Murilo, who led the league in this regard.

“It was a very good year, individually. I’m very happy with these results and being able to have an excellent championship. Now it’s time to stay focused on continuing this pace and being able to help my team even more, especially in achieving even better collective goals” , concluded Murilo.