António Manuel Tavares "Tony" Fonseca (born 30 January 1965) is a Portuguese former

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

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, and a technical director for the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ( ...

. Over 11 seasons, he amassed

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

totals of 199 games and two goals, representing in the competition Benfica,

Vitória de Guimarães 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 ...

and

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela da Amadora (), sometimes just Estrela, is a Portuguese sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. It's the successor of Clube de Futebol Estrela da Amadora, founded in 1932 and extinct in ...

. He finished his career in Canada, where he started working as a manager in 1999.

Club career

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Fonseca played youth football for five clubs, finishing his grooming at local

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 ...

. From 1983 to 1987 he competed in the Segunda Liga, after which the former bought him from F.C. Tirsense. During his three-year tenure with Benfica, Fonseca was first-choice in the 1988–89 campaign as the team won the

championship and also reached the final of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

, but played second-fiddle to

Álvaro Magalhães Álvaro Monteiro Magalhães (born 3 January 1961), known simply as Álvaro, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a left back, and a current manager. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 224 matches and six goals over 11 seasons, mainl ...

and

Samuel Quina Samuel António da Silva Tavares Quina (born 3 August 1966), known simply as Samuel, is a Portuguese retired footballer. Having played mostly for Benfica in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he operated mainly as a central defender. Club career ...

in the other two. In eight of the following nine seasons he continued to play in the top flight, with

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, commonly known as Vitória de Guimarães, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top-flight of football in Portugal. Vitória de Guimarães have finished thir ...

and C.F. Estrela da Amadora, appearing regularly for both sides and reuniting at the latter with former Benfica teammates

Edmundo Edmundo is a common name that is used by many individuals including: * Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, former Brazilian football player * Edmundo Farolan, Filipino writer * Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian musician * Edmundo Rivero, Argentine singer * Edmundo ...

, José Carlos, Fernando Mendes and Paulinho. Fonseca retired from football in 2000 at the age of 35, after two years with the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

in the

USL A-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

, with whom he later worked as a manager.

International career

Fonseca earned four

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 ...

, over one year. He made his debut on 29 March 1989, playing the entirety of a 6–0 friendly win over

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

with marked the 75th anniversary of the

Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, Federação Portuguesa de Futebol; ) is the governing body of football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (UPF) by the three existing regional associations ...

. During five years, Fonseca served as assistant to Stephen Hart and Dale Mitchell at the Canada national team, while also being in charge of the under-23s. Already as a technical director for the

, he acted as

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

for the full side following the departure of Colin Miller, who later replaced him after two

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

Personal life

Fonseca married a Portuguese-Canadian woman, fathering two children.

References

Bibliography *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseca, Antonio 1965 births Living people Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Cova da Piedade players G.C. Alcobaça players F.C. Tirsense players S.L. Benfica footballers Vitória S.C. players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players A-League (1995–2004) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Canada Portuguese football managers Canada men's national soccer team managers Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada