Nélson Diogo Freitas Cunha (born 10 February 1986) is a Portuguese 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 plays for Valadares Gaia FC as a

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

Born in

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 ...

, Cunha was brought up at local

Vitória SC 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 ...

, where he spent his entire formative spell save for a loan at neighbouring Amigos de Urgeses. He started his senior career at

F.C. Lixa Futebol Clube da Lixa known as FC Lixa is a Portuguese football club from Lixa which was founded in 1934. They currently play in the Portuguese Second Division, Portuguese Second Division Serie A and last season they finished 14th place 2007/08. ...

in the third tier, reaching the professionals in the second part of the 2006–07 season with

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

but featuring rarely for the Segunda Liga club. After one and a half years in the lower leagues with

SC Mirandela Sport Clube de Mirandela ''(Mirandela)'' is a Portuguese football club based in the city of Mirandela, in northeast Portugal (Trás-os-Montes region). Background Mirandela currently plays in the Segunda Divisão Zona Norte, which is the third t ...

, Cunha signed for

C.D. Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of Portuguese football. Their chair ...

in January 2009, helping them to promote to the

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, ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. He made his debut in the competition on 14 August of that year, starting in a 0–0 home draw against

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

. He scored his first goal the following 19 February, opening the 1–1 draw with Olhanense also at the

Estádio Marcolino de Castro Estadio Marcolino de Castro is a multi-use stadium in Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home of Segunda Liga club CD Feirense. The stadium is able to hold 5,600 people. The stadium was b ...

. Cunha moved to

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 ...

in the summer of 2013, earning promotion to the top flight in his debut campaign. He subsequently renewed his contract for another year.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunha, Diogo 1986 births Living people Footballers from Guimarães Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Vitória S.C. players F.C. Lixa players S.C. Olhanense players SC Mirandela players C.D. Feirense players Moreirense F.C. players G.D. Chaves players F.C. Famalicão players Lusitânia F.C. players Berço SC players