Adelino Carlos Morais Nunes (born 6 September 1960) is a retired Portuguese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Nunes was born in

Manteigas Manteigas () is a town and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 3,430, in an area of . The municipality is located in Guarda District; in Centro Region and Beira Interior Norte Subregion. It is located in the Serra da Estrela Mou ...

Guarda District The district of Guarda ( pt, Distrito de Guarda ) is located in the Centro Region of Portugal, except Vila Nova de Foz Côa, which is in the Norte Region. The district capital and most populous city is Guarda. Municipalities The district conta ...

. During 18 seasons as a professional, he played mainly for

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

(seven seasons in two separate spells). In the 1984 summer, after the first stint at the

Sado River The river Sado () is a river in southern Portugal; it is one of the major rivers in the country. It flows in a northerly direction (the only major Portuguese river to do so) through from its springs in the hills of Ourique before entering the A ...

side, he signed for top division giants

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

, being a relatively important member of the teams that won the 1987 national championship – with the player contributing with 24 games and a career-best eight goals, including a brace in a 2–0 away win against

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

on 1 February 1987 – and three consecutive domestic cups. In 1990, after two years with

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

, 30-year-old Nunes returned to

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

, suffering relegation in his first year but helping Vitória return to the top flight in his third, already as a fringe player however. He closed out his career at nearly 37 after two years with

C.D. Beja Clube Desportivo de Beja is a Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, v ...

( second level), where he reunited with former Setúbal teammate

Hernâni Neves Hernâni Madruga Neves (born 2 November 1963), known simply as Hernâni, is a retired Portuguese football and beach soccer player. In the former, he played as a defensive midfielder. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 84 games and two goals over ...

; over the course of 11 seasons, he amassed top division totals of 228 matches and 19 goals.

International career

Nunes gained 18

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, scoring twice. Most of his appearances came following the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, as most of the internationals defected the national team after the infamous

Saltillo Affair The Saltillo Affair ( pt, O Caso Saltilho) was a series of controversies surrounding the Portuguese national football team during its participation in the Mexico '86 FIFA World Cup. The affair was named after the Mexican city of Saltillo, Coahu ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Honours

;Benfica * Portuguese League: 1986–87 *

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

Portuguese Supercup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: 1985 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: Runner-up 1987–88

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Adelino 1960 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Barreirense players Vitória F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers C.S. Marítimo players C.D. Beja players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Sportspeople from Guarda District