Paulo César Silva Peixoto (born 12 May 1980) is a Portuguese former professional

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 mainly as a

left 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 ...

but occasionally 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 ...

, currently

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

. 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 205 matches and 25 goals over 13 seasons, representing in the competition

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Reste ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

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 ...

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, Benfica and

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

. He played once 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 ...

. Peixoto started working as a manager in 2019, leading

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

and

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

in the top flight.

Playing career

Club

Belenenses

After playing his first two professional seasons at lowly

Clube Caçadores das Taipas Clube Caçadores das Taipas is a Portuguese sports club from Caldas das Taipas. The men's football team plays in the Braga Football Association Serie 2. They played for many years in the old Terceira Divisão, but had stints on the third tier, ...

, near

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

where he was born, Peixoto's ability as a

left winger 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 ...

allowed him to jump from the

fourth division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

straight into the

with

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

, thanks to former player João Cardoso. He scored seven goals in his first year, one of them a long range shot closing a 3–0 win against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

at the ''

Estádio do Restelo The Estádio do Restelo is a multi-purpose stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. The stadium has a capacity of 19,856 people and was built in 1956, in an old stone quarry. It is situated behind the Jerónimos Monastery in the Lisbon parish of Belém. I ...

''. In July 2002 he signed with Porto, going on to be managed by

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

Porto

Peixoto's Porto career did not go as planned; while talented, he failed to impose in the first team, and in his first season only made 15 appearances, scoring three goals. He was starting to make his presence felt in the starting XI when, after netting in two consecutive league matches in 4–1 wins, he was seriously injured in the

UEFA Champions League 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 ...

3–2 away victory over

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

on 22 October 2003 and, while it did not seem serious at first, on the next day a ruptured

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

was diagnosed, which forced him to miss most of the campaign. After his recovery, Peixoto crashed his Mercedes-Benz SL500 while

speeding Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

to arrive in time at Porto's training center in

Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; cel-x-proto, Cale), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a population of ...

, and while only getting minor bruises, the car was completely wrecked and he was promptly asked for explanations by Mourinho. His image as a professional suffered much from the accident, and midway through the following campaign he was loaned to

where he regained his previous form, returning to Porto for 2005–06. Facing another loan, Peixoto remained in the transfer list until the eleventh hour, being one of the final players to get a sit in the team. Following the internal problems with

Nuno Valente Nuno Jorge Pereira da Silva Valente (; born 12 September 1974) is a former Portuguese professional footballer who played as a left-back or a winger. He later became a manager. He played professionally in Portugal and England for Sporting, ...

and the sub par performances of Leandro, coach

Co Adriaanse Co Adriaanse (born 21 July 1947) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career As a professional player, Adriaanse played for six seasons with (now dissolved) De Volewijckers (from 1964 until 1970) and ...

turned him into a prolific

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 ...

in the same fashion of

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, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

internationals Miguel or

Paulo Ferreira Paulo Renato Rebocho Ferreira (; born 18 January 1979) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a full-back. After starting out at Estoril, he went on to spend the vast majority of his 16-year professional career with Porto and Chelse ...

(who played right midfielder during most of his under-21 career). After having scored twice at

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, is a Portuguese football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it plays in the Division of Honour in the Coimbra Football Associ ...

in a 3–2 win – he also netted an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

– Peixoto again suffered a major knee injury that would keep him away from the pitch for the rest of the season, eliminating any hope of

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

selection. He would be dismissed by Adriaanse and joined

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

side

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

on loan for 2006–07, finally cutting all ties with Porto in March 2007; previously, on 27 February, Espanyol had also terminated his contract as the player failed to make any competitive appearances for the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan language, Catalan, French language, French and Occitan language, Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian language, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance languages, Romance ethnic group native to Cataloni ...

Braga and Benfica

Peixoto signed a three-year contract with

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese f ...

on 29 May 2007. He declared himself delighted to join "...the fourth biggest team in Portugal." After two intermittent seasons, Peixoto refused to take part in Braga's

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spain ...

fixtures against

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

, after reported interest from

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 ...

, thus being suspended. On 7 August 2009, a transfer deal between the two clubs was arranged for a fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

400,000 – Braga retained 50% of the player's rights. He spent most of his first season playing as left-back, battling for position with another adapted player,

Fábio Coentrão Fábio Alexandre da Silva Coentrão (; born 11 March 1988) is a Portuguese former professional footballer. Mainly a left-back, he also operated as a winger and occasionally as a defensive midfielder. After starting playing professionally with ...

. After appearing in 65 official games for Benfica (one goal, in a 6–0 away win against Grupo Desportivo e Recreativo Monsanto in the 2009–10 edition 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 ...

), Peixoto was deemed surplus to requirements by manager

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 12 ...

as practically all Portuguese players, and was not given a jersey for the 2011–12 campaign, being ultimately released from contract on 6 January 2012.

International

Aged 28, Peixoto earned his only

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

, appearing as an 84th-minute substitute for

Maniche Nuno Ricardo de Oliveira Ribeiro (born 11 November 1977), known as Maniche (), is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He played top flight football in Portugal, Russia, England, Spain, Italy and Ge ...

in a 6–2 friendly loss to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

on 19 November 2008. He was called up by

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirates, ...

for the final games of

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

, but did not play.

Coaching career

Peixoto finished his career with

Gil Vicente F.C. Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

in 2014, at the age of 34. He started working as a manager on 11 March 2019, being appointed at

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

side

Varzim SC Varzim Sport Club () is a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football team based in Póvoa de Varzim, near Porto in the north of the country. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club si ...

. On 19 June that year, after succeeding in avoiding relegation, he moved to

Associação Académica de Coimbra The Associação Académica de Coimbra (AAC) is the students' union of the University of Coimbra (UC). Founded in Coimbra on November 3, 1887, it is the oldest students' union in Portugal. It is also the biggest Portuguese students' union belongi ...

in the same league. He left his post five months later, having collected only nine points in ten matches. On 19 December 2019, Peixoto signed with

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese association football, football football team, club from Chaves, Portugal, Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Está ...

, succeeding José Mota at the team eighth in the second division. He had his first experience in the top division in November of the following year, when he replaced the departed

Ricardo Soares José Ricardo Soares Ribeiro (born 11 November 1974), known as Soares, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a winger, currently manager of Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan. After a playing career spent almost entirely at the ...

Moreirense F.C. Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

on a short-term contract. Having won one of five league fixtures, he resigned on 2 January 2021. Peixoto took over from

Jorge Simão António Jorge Rocha Simão (born 12 August 1976) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently a manager. Having played only as an amateur, he began work as an assistant manager at 26, before his first outright positi ...

on 16 December 2021. Arriving with the team in 13th, he finished the season two places higher. He opened the following campaign with no wins and two points from nine games, and after a 2–0 loss to Liga 3 side

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 ...

in the third round of the cup on 16 October 2022 he was dismissed. He returned to the same job at the turn of the year, after his replacement Mota had resigned with no points from four games.

Personal life

From 2005 to 2007, Peixoto was married to actress and

Rádio e Televisão de Portugal Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) is the public service broadcasting organisation of Portugal. It operates four national television channels and three national radio stations, as well as several satellite and cable offerings. The current co ...

presenter Isabel Figueira. The couple had one child, a son. On 3 January 2022, Peixoto tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Porto *

: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06 *

: 2002–03 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

: 2003–04 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

: 2002–03 Benfica *Primeira Liga: 2009–10 *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

*Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira runner-up:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Gil Vicente *Taça da Liga runner-up: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peixoto, Cesar 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Guimarães Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Clube Caçadores das Taipas players C.F. Os Belenenses players FC Porto players Vitória S.C. players S.C. Braga players S.L. Benfica footballers Gil Vicente F.C. players RCD Espanyol footballers UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Cup winning players Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Varzim S.C. managers Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. managers G.D. Chaves managers Moreirense F.C. managers F.C. Paços de Ferreira managers