Fábio Paím

Born in Estoril, Lisbon District, Paim was once regarded as the most promising young player in Portugal by Cristiano Ronaldo, who said upon arriving at Manchester United: "If you think I'm good, just wait until you see Fábio Paim". He joined Sporting CP's youth system at the age of 9, beginning his senior career at C.D. Olivais e Moscavide loaned alongside teammate Bruno Pereirinha. He spent the 2007–08 season with two teams, making his Primeira Liga debut with F.C. Paços de Ferreira after starting with C.D. Trofense in the Segunda Liga. Paim moved to Luiz Felipe Scolari's Chelsea in August 2008, but only appeared for their reserves during a four-month spell. On 11 December he left the English club and moved, yet again on loan, to Rio Ave FC. Coach Carlos Brito decided not to keep him mainly due to his high salary, and the player did not manage to attract any interest before the end of winter transfer window, spending the rest of the campaign unattached. On 25 September 2009, both Sporting and Real S.C. – which had Filipe Ramos, a former Sporting player, as a coach, with the side competing in the third tier – agreed to a one-year loan deal until the end of 2009–10, making Paim the ninth Sporting player loaned out to that team. In the 2010 off-season, without any official appearances to his credit, the 22-year-old left the Estádio José Alvalade for good, signing with S.C.U. Torreense of the same league. He left after only a couple of months, spending the following years in…

Paim won 42 caps for Portugal across all youth levels, scoring seven goals. Of Angolan descent, as his parents hailed from Huambo Province, he was eligible to represent its senior team and hoped to be selected to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, but ultimately was not called. Paim's only appearance for the Portugal under-21s was on 14 October 2008, when he came on as a 69th-minute substitute for Daniel Candeias in a 1–0 friendly loss to Ukraine held in Vila Nova de Gaia.

Paim was acquitted of sexual crimes in 2012 in Portugal, and in 2015 in Lithuania. In August 2019, he was arrested by the Public Security Police after an undetermined amount of illegal drugs were found in his possession in Estoril. He was eventually acquitted on the grounds that wire tapping was not admissible evidence in a court of law, but he previously served time in the Caxias prison. In October 2023, Paim stated that he would have been a better footballer than Cristiano Ronaldo if he had worked half as hard as him, and that he believed that he would have won the Ballon d'Or in place of Ronaldo. The following month, Ronaldo responded to those claims on Instagram by commenting on the podcast clip: "WTF. Who is this guy?" In September 2024, Paim shot a pornographic film.

Trofense

Segunda Liga: 2007–08