Flávio Paixão

Flávio Emanuel Lopes Paixão (born 19 September 1984) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward.

He never played professionally in his own country, and earned his greatest successes in Poland, scoring 108 Ekstraklasa goals for Śląsk Wrocław and Lechia Gdańsk, all-time best for a foreigner. Additionally, he had spells in Spain, Scotland and Iran.

Early years
Born in Sesimbra, Setúbal District, Paixão spent his early career in Portugal and Spain, playing with lowly teams in both countries – his hometown's G.D. Sesimbra, FC Porto B, CF Villanovense, Real Jaén and Benidorm CF.

In the 2006–07 season, he scored ten goals for Villanovense but suffered relegation from Segunda División B, the only level in which he competed in Spain.

Hamilton Academical
Paixão's first taste of professional football came on 6 August 2009 as he signed for Scottish Premier League club Hamilton Academical alongside twin brother Marco. He made his league debut nine days later, playing the full 90 minutes of a 3–0 loss away to Kilmarnock.

Paixão was released from his contract with immediate effect on 14 April 2011, alongside his sibling. He appeared in 60 official matches for the Accies, scoring ten goals; his first was in a 2–1 loss at Heart of Midlothian on 26 September 2009.

Tractor
On 2 August 2011, Paixão signed a one-year contract with Tractor S.C. in Iran, for an undisclosed fee. In his first season he netted a club-best ten goals in the Pro League, being voted by Goal.com as best player on the team.

Śląsk Wrocław
Paixão then returned to Europe, joining Polish Ekstraklasa's Śląsk Wrocław at the tail end of the 2013–14 campaign. In his first full season he scored 18 goals, bettered only by Kamil Wilczek from Piast Gliwice; this included a hat-trick on 25 October 2014 in a 4–1 win at Lechia Gdańsk.

Lechia Gdańsk
On 8 February 2016, Paixão moved to Lechia Gdańsk for a fee of £100,000 with two years left on his contract, with Śląsk unhappy with the player's behaviour and accusing him of being disloyal – he reunited with his sibling, who arrived earlier from AC Sparta Prague. He scored a combined 26 goals in his first two and a half seasons, adding ten in all competitions in 2017–18, five of which were against Lechia's main rivals Arka Gdynia in the Tricity Derby.

The 2018–19 campaign proved to be Paixão's best in terms of goalscoring with 15 goals in total, with him being his team's top scorer and the fifth highest in the league as they finished in third position. He broke a long-standing Lechia record of scoring the most goals for the team in the Polish top division, surpassing previous holder Bogdan Adamczyk on 25 November 2018 after finding the net against Jagiellonia Białystok. He also won the Polish Cup, assisting the only goal of the final on 2 May against Jagiellonia for Artur Sobiech in added time, having earlier had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee for offside.

At the start of 2019–20, Paixão started in the Polish Super Cup, helping his side win the match 3–1 after defeating Piast. He scored in both legs of the second qualifying round in the UEFA Europa League against Brøndby IF (5–3 aggregate loss), and as a result became the first club player to achieve the feat more than once in European competition.

On 23 April 2022, Paixão scored his 99th and 100th goals in the Polish top tier in a 2–0 win against Warta Poznań, becoming the 34th player in the league's history to achieve this feat and the first foreigner to do so. His second was also Lechia's 1000th in the history of the competition.

On 4 May 2023, it was announced Paixão would leave the club at the end of the season which saw Lechia compete in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Europa Conference League but also struggle domestically, resulting in relegation to I liga. He made his final appearance on 20 May 2023 in a 1–0 victory over Legia Warsaw, and was replaced in extra time of the first half to a guard of honour from both teams.

International career
During their spell in Poland, both Paixão and his sibling were repeatedly poised to be called up to the Portugal national team, but nothing came of it.

Personal life
Paixão's twin brother Marco was also a footballer, Flávio being the younger by five minutes.

Honours
Lechia Gdańsk
 * Polish Cup: 2018–19
 * Polish Super Cup: 2019

Individual
 * Polish Cup top scorer: 2019–20
 * Ekstraklasa Player of the Month: October 2014, November 2018