Fernando da Conceição Cruz (born 12 August 1940) 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 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 ...

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Cruz was already first choice with Benfica at the age of 20, going on to win eight

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, ...

championships with the club as well as four Portuguese Cups. He played in all five

European Cup 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 ...

finals the side reached in the 60s, winning the

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

and 1962 editions and appearing in 346 official games during his 11-year stint (one goal). Cruz ended his professional career in June 1971, after one year with newly-formed

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. After leaving France he headed to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, and later to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, working as a manager in the latter nation.

International career

Cruz played 11 matches 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 first appearance being on 21 May 1961 in a 1–1 friendly draw with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was included in

Otto Glória Otto Martins Glória (9 January 1917 – 4 September 1986) was a Brazilian football coach. Career Glória was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but had his greatest successes with Benfica in Portugal, guiding the club to nine national trophies. ...

's squad for the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

finals, failing to make an appearance for the third-placed nation.

Personal life

Cruz was a supporter of Benfica. In 2008, he was honoured by the club for his achievements, in the presence of his friend and well-known footballer

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

. On 23 September 2012, Cruz acted as "honour guest" of Benfica's supporters association in

Canas de Senhorim Canas de Senhorim is a civil parish in the municipality (''concelho'') of Nelas, in the central sub-region of Dão-Lafões in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 3,509,Central Region of Portugal.

Honours

Benfica *

: 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 *

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 ...

: 1961–62, 1963–64, 1968–69, 1969–70 *

: 1960–61, 1961–62; runner-up: 1962–63, 1964–65, 1967–68 * Intercontinental Cup runner-up:

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

Paris Saint-Germain * Division 2: 1970–71 Portugal *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

third-place:

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Fernando 1940 births Living people Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Ligue 2 players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players UEFA Champions League winning players Portugal international footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate soccer players in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Portuguese football managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in the United States