Eduardo José Gomes Cameselle Mendez (18 January 1962 – 3 September 2020), known as Dito, was a Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

central defender 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

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 ...

Playing career

Club

Dito was born in Barcelos. He appeared in 358

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, ...

matches over 16 professional seasons, starting his career with S.C. Braga for which he was already an important first-team member at the age of 18, and signing for S.L. Benfica in 1986 after six years in Minho. In his two-season spell with Benfica, Dito played 27 league games in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

as the

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 ...

club won the double, then partnered Carlos Mozer in

the second ''The Second'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf, released in October 1968 on ABC Dunhill Records. The album contains one of Steppenwolf's most famous songs, " Magic Carpet Ride". The background of the origin ...

(no silverware won). He then moved to rivals and title holders

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 ...

for one season, with Benfica regaining their domestic supremacy at the expense of precisely the northerners. From 1989 to 1994, always in the top division, Dito represented

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 ...

S.C. Espinho Sporting Clube de Espinho, also known as Sporting de Espinho, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Espinho in the Aveiro district. Besides football, the club has volleyball and handball departments that usually compete in the major Po ...

and

Gil Vicente FC 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 ...

. After a brief stint with

A.D. Ovarense Associação Desportiva Ovarense commonly known as simply as Ovarense is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Ovar, Aveiro. The club was founded on 19 December 1921. It currently plays at the Estádio Marques da Silva which they have playe ...

in the Segunda Liga, he retired from football aged 34.

International

Dito won 17 caps 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 ...

, his debut arriving on 28 October 1981 at the age of 19 as he came on as a 46th-minute substitute for Humberto Coelho in a 4–1 away loss against

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 ...

for the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

qualifiers. He did not attend any major international tournament, however. On 23 February 1983, Dito scored the only goal in the

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

defeat of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in the Portuguese capital, which marked the first-ever victory over that opposition.

Coaching career

Dito's biggest achievement as a coach was managing

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Founded on 8 December 1911, in the parish of Paranhos, it is mostly known f ...

over the course of three top-flight campaigns, being dismissed after the tenth round of 1999–2000 as the Paranhos team eventually retained their status. In 2009 he returned to his first club Braga, being appointed at the junior sides. In July 2011, after guiding

Braga District The district of Braga ( pt, Distrito de Braga ) is a district in the northwest of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Braga, and it is bordered by the district of Viana do Castelo in the north, Vila Real in the east, Spain ( Galicia) ...

to the UEFA Regions' Cup, Dito returned to the senior game with

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese 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 since it was founded. The club pl ...

of the third tier. He fulfilled his aim of winning promotion, doing so as champions in his only season, but then quit due to disputes with the board including an alleged four-month backlog in wages. On 5 April 2017, Dito came back to the professional game after over a decade's hiatus, taking over

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

for the rest of the second division season. The following 22 January, he left by mutual consent. Dito was hired by

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã, is Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the second-tier Liga Portugal 2. The club was founded in 1923. Their nickname is the ...

of the same league on 27 May 2018. He left on 9 October, again by agreement between both parties, with the side second bottom. In the 2019 off-season, Dito was appointed

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

at hometown club

, recently returned to the top tier.

Personal life

Dito's father, Spaniard Eduardo Cameselle Mendez, played for Gil Vicente in the 1950s. His nephew, also named Eduardo, was also a footballer. Dito died on 3 September 2020, aged 58.

Honours

Braga * Taça de Portugal runner-up: 1981–82 Benfica *

: 1986–87 *Taça de Portugal: 1986–87 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira runner-up: 1986, 1987 Porto *Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira runner-up: 1988

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dito 1962 births 2020 deaths People from Barcelos, Portugal Sportspeople from Braga District Portuguese footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.C. Braga players S.L. Benfica footballers FC Porto players Vitória F.C. players S.C. Espinho players Gil Vicente F.C. players S.C.U. Torreense players A.D. Ovarense players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers G.D. Chaves managers Portimonense S.C. managers Moreirense F.C. managers Varzim S.C. managers F.C. Famalicão managers S.C. Covilhã managers