Eurico Mendonça de Caires (5 August 1952 – 13 November 1989), known simply as Eurico, was a Portuguese

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 midfielder. He represented clubs in Portugal, Canada and the United States.

Club career

Born in Funchal,

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, Eurico played youth football with S.L. Benfica, being promoted to the first team for the 1971–72 season and making one

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, ...

appearance, as a substitute. He went on to represent, always in the top flight, S.C. Beira-Mar,

C.D. Montijo Clube Desportivo de Montijo commonly known as simply as Montijo was a football club from the city of Montijo, Setúbal. The club was founded in 1948 and folded in 2007 due to financial problems. As Clube Desportivo de Montijo, it played in the P ...

and

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

. At the end of the 1975–76 campaign, Eurico moved abroad to play in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

, having brief spells with

Toronto Metros-Croatia Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and the

Rochester Lancers Rochester Lancers may refer to: * Rochester Lancers (2015), a semi-professional soccer team that competes in the National Premier Soccer League * Rochester Lancers (MASL), an indoor soccer team that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League 2 * Roch ...

before returning to Portugal with Estoril and

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 ...

. Eurico retired in June 1985 at nearly 33 after three years in the lower leagues, amassing Portuguese top division totals of 171 games and 16 goals. He died seven years later.

External links

*
NASL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eurico Mendonca Caires 1952 births 1989 deaths Sportspeople from Funchal Portuguese footballers Madeiran footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.L. Benfica footballers S.C. Beira-Mar players C.D. Montijo players G.D. Estoril Praia players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.F. União players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Canada Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States