Rufino Gama

Rufino Gama
Personal information
Full name	Rufino Walter Gama
Date of birth	20 June 1998 (age 26)
Place of birth	Baucau, East Timor, Indonesia
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Lalenok United
Number	99
Youth career
–2015	AS Académica
Senior career*
Years	Team
2016–2017	AS Académica
2017–2018	Cecusan
2018–2019	Karketu Dili
2020–2024	Lalenok United
2024	São José
International career‡
	Timor-Leste U16
2012–2016	Timor-Leste U20
2015–2019	Timor-Leste U23
2016–2021	Timor-Leste
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 December 2022

Rufino Walter Gama (born 20 June 1998)^[1] is a Timorese professional footballer and top scorer of the national team, the current record scorer for the Timor-Leste national football team with 7 goals. He played for Karketu Dili FC since 2018. He came to Lalenok United in January 2020, to strengthen the Club in the AFC Cup 2020 Playoff match against PSM Makassar. In 2024 while playing for São José, Rufino scored the game winning goal in the final of the Copa FFTL.^[2]

International career

Gama made his international debut as an 81st-minute substitute against Malaysia.^[3] He scored his first international goal for Timor Leste in the game against Chinese Taipei which ended with a 1–2 defeat.^[4]

In September 2018, he was selected for the two-legged 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup qualifying matches against Brunei.^[5] He started both games as Timor-Leste win to advance to the competition proper, win 3–2 on aggregate.^[6]

The following year, Gama was selected for the 23 squad man for two-legged 2022 World Cup qualification in June. He started in both games and scored one goal in the second leg at home for a 1–5 loss over Malaysia.^[7]

Career statistics

International

As of matches played 16 July 2022.

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Timor-Leste	2016	6	2
	2017	3	1
	2018	7	3
	2019	2	1
	2020	0	0
	2021	3	0
	2022	1	0
Total		22	7

International goals

Scores and results list East Timor's goal tally first.^[1]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 October 2016	National Stadium, Kaohsiung, Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	1–0	1–2	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2.	15 October 2016	Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia	Brunei	1–0	1–2	2016 AFF Championship qualification
3.	4 December 2017	Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	1–1	1–3	2017 CTFA International Tournament
4.	12 October 2018	Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia	Cambodia	2–1	2–2	Friendly
5.	13 November 2018	Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia	Indonesia	1–0	1–3	2018 AFF Championship
6.	21 November 2018	National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore	Singapore	1–1	1–6	2018 AFF Championship
7.	11 June 2019	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Malaysia	1–5	1–5	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification