Germano Luís de Figueiredo (23 December 1932 – 14 July 2004), simply known as Germano (), 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

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 ...

. He played most of his professional career with Benfica, appearing in 131 official matches and winning eight major titles, including two European Cups. A fiercely hard-working and strong-tackling defender, he is noted for his towering presence in Benfica's back-three defending formation, alongside left-back Ângelo and right-back

Mário João Mário João Sousa Alves (born 6 June 1935), known as Mário João, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a right or left back. He appeared in 166 Primeira Liga matches during ten seasons, scoring 11 goals. Club career Born in Bar ...

. Germano represented

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 ...

at the

1966 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 ...

. He ranked 53rd in

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

's ''50 Greatest Footballers of the Last 50 Years'' jubilee list.

Club career

Born in Alcântara (Lisbon), Germano started playing with local

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

, spending seven of his nine seasons in 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, ...

. In the summer of 1960 he moved to neighbouring S.L. Benfica, where he remained the following six years, being a leading defensive unit of the sides that won four national championships and two European Cups (against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

); in the latter competition's 1964–65 edition, he was placed in goal following his teammate's

Alberto da Costa Pereira Alberto da Costa Pereira (22 December 1929 – 25 October 1990) was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Born in Nacala, Portuguese Mozambique from a colonial Wh ...

injury in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, and kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

for more than 30 minutes, albeit in a 0–1 loss. Germano retired in 1967, after one year with

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 ...

of the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He died in Linda-a-Velha, at the age of 71.

International career

Germano won 24 caps for

, over 13 years. He was part of the squad that appeared at 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 ...

but, after a subpar performance in the second game against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, was benched for the rest of the tournament, which ended with a third-place conquest.

Honours

Club

Benfica *

: 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65 * Taça de Portugal: 1961–62, 1963–64 *

Taça de Honra Taça de Honra (Honour Cup) is a Portuguese friendly football tournament played between teams of the Lisbon Football Association (AFL). It is the third oldest competition in Portugal after the championships of Lisbon and Porto. The format has ...

(2) *

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 ...

: 1960–61, 1961–62 Atlético * Segunda Liga: 1958–59

International

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 ...

Individual

* World Soccer World XI: 1961, 1962, 1965

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Germano De Figueiredo 1932 births 2004 deaths Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Atlético Clube de Portugal players S.L. Benfica footballers S.C. Salgueiros players UEFA Champions League winning players Portugal international footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players