Francisco Bolota (born April 20, 1946) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Career

Bolota joined the youth ranks of GD Alcochetense in 1964. In 1967, he played in the

Primeira Divisão 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, ...

with F.C. Barreirense for two seasons. Later he joined C.D. Montijo and played in the Segunda Divisão Portuguesa. In 1971, he returned to the top flight with

União de Tomar União Futebol Comércio e Indústria de Tomar, or more commonly União de Tomar, is a Portuguese association football club formed on 4 May 1914 and based in the city of Tomar.National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

with

Toronto Italia The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the folding ...

. In his debut season in Toronto he recorded 27 goals in 15 matches. In 1978, he played 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 ...

with Rochester Lancers. He played with Toronto First Portuguese for the 1979 NSL season. The following season he returned to former team Montijo in the Segunda Divisão Portuguesa. He later had a stint with

Juventude Sport Clube Juventude Sport Clube, also commonly known as Juventude de Évora, (abbreviated Juv. Évora) is an amateur sports club based in Évora, Portugal, founded on 5 December, 1918, that competes in the Divisão de Elite of the Évora Football Associ ...

, and

Lusitano G.C. Lusitano Ginásio Clube, MHC, also commonly known as Lusitano de Évora (abbrev. Lusit. Évora), is a Portuguese sports club based in Évora competing in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth-tier league in the Portuguese football system. F ...

He concluded his career in Portugal with former teams União de Tomar, and Montijo. In 1986, he returned to play in the National Soccer League with Toronto First Portuguese. In 1985, he permanently settled in Canada and found employment as a

construction worker A construction worker is a worker employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure. Definition By some definitions, workers may be engaged in manual labour as unskilled or semi-skilled workers; they may be sk ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolota, Francisco 1946 births Living people People from Alcochete Portuguese footballers F.C. Barreirense players C.D. Montijo players U.F.C.I. Tomar players Toronto Italia players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players Juventude Sport Clube players Lusitano G.C. players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Canadian National Soccer League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Association football forwards Toronto First Portuguese players Sportspeople from Setúbal District