Delfim José Fernandes Rola Teixeira (born 5 February 1977), known simply as Delfim, 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

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 ...

. In a career marred by injury problems, 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 133 games and nine goals over as many seasons, in representation of five clubs. The owner of a powerful shot, he also competed professionally in France and Switzerland.

Club career

Delfim was born in Amarante. After emerging he was 20 years old in the

with

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

he signed with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

, being an essential midfield element alongside

Aldo Duscher Álvaro 'Aldo' Pedro Duscher (born 22 March 1979) is an Argentine retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Renowned for his physical presence on the pitch, he also held an Austrian passport, and spent most of his professional c ...

in the latter club's 1999–2000 league conquest, after an 18-year drought.Delfim: a glória em Alvalade e a lesão que quase lhe matou o sonho (Delfim: the glory at Alvalade and the injury that nearly killed his dream)
Mais Futebol, 12 March 2014 (in Portuguese) In 2001, Delfim moved to

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 ...

in France, but also began an excruciating battle with injuries, appearing very rarely with the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side and almost retiring from football. In January 2002 he was reunited with former Sporting teammate Dimas and, after an unassuming stint with

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

, eventually returned to Portugal. Delfim was able to revive his career in the 2007–08 season, being very important as

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 ...

retained its top-division status. For the following campaign he joined top level newcomer

C.D. Trofense Clube Desportivo Trofense (), commonly known as Trofense, is a Portuguese football club based in Trofa, Portugal. Founded in 1930, it plays in Segunda Liga, holding home games at '' Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense'', with a capacity of 5,0 ...

, retiring at the age of 32 after his team suffered relegation.

International career

Delfim earned his only full

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

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 ...

on 15 November 2000, playing the entire 2–1 friendly win over

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

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 ...

Honours

Marseille *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delfim Teixeira 1977 births Living people People from Amarante, Portugal Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Boavista F.C. players C.D. Aves players Sporting CP footballers Moreirense F.C. players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players C.D. Trofense players Ligue 1 players Olympique de Marseille players Swiss Super League players BSC Young Boys players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Sportspeople from Porto District