Hilário Rosário da Conceição, OM (born 19 March 1939), known as Hilário (), 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 ...

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 ...

. He spent his entire professional career with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

, appearing in nearly 450 competitive matches and winning seven major trophies. An international for 12 years, Hilário 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 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Born in

Lourenço Marques Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088 ...

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally ...

, Hilário was first noticed at Sporting de Lourenço Marques as

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 ...

, but the former signed for

as the latter joined city rivals

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

. He put his youth career on hold for nearly two years and switched to

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, as he often played football barefoot due to the fact he did not feel comfortable wearing

cleats Cleat may refer to: * Cleat (nautical), a fitting on ships, boats, and docks to which ropes are tied * Cleat, Orkney, a place in Scotland * Cleat (shoe), a type or part of a shoe * ''Cleats'' (comic strip), a comic strip by Bill Hinds * Grouser ...

. Hilário was an undisputed starter for 14 of the following 15

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, ...

seasons, winning three national championships and as many

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 sea ...

. He missed the club's conquest of the

1963–64 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1963–64 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Sporting CP in a replayed final victory against MTK Budapest. First round Bye: Tottenham Hotspur , Motor Zwickau , Linfield F.C. 1 Olymp ...

, due to a serious tibia injury contracted against

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 ...

just three days before

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

MTK Budapest FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a Hungarian football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest. The team currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság II. The club's colours are blue and white. As one of the most suc ...

. After ending his playing days, Hilário immediately embarked in a managerial career. This included his only spells in the Portuguese top division, with

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

in the 1976–77 and the 1979–80 seasons, and assistant stints with Sporting (both first and reserve teams).

International career

Hilário made his debut for the Portugal national team on 11 November 1959, in a 5–3 friendly loss to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He went on earn a further 39

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

, his last appearance coming on 17 February 1971 in a 3–0 defeat against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying The qualifying round for the 1972 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group winner progressed to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away bas ...

. Hilário was called up for the 1966 FIFA World Cup by manager

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. ...

, featuring in all the matches for the third-placed side.

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 1961–62, 1965–66, 1969–70 *

: 1962–63, 1970–71, 1972–73 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1963–64 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

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hilario 1939 births Living people Mozambican emigrants to Portugal Sportspeople from Maputo Mozambican footballers Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Portugal international footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers S.C. Braga managers C.S. Marítimo managers Leixões S.C. managers S.C. Covilhã managers Académico de Viseu F.C. managers S.C. Lusitânia managers Expatriate football managers in Mozambique