Hugo Alexandre Esteves Costa (born 4 November 1973) 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 ...

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 ...

Club career

Costa was born in

Tramagal Tramagal is a Portuguese ''freguesia'' ("civil parish"), located in Abrantes Municipality, in Santarém District The District of Santarém ( pt, Distrito de Santarém ) is a district of Portugal, located in Portugal's ''Centro Region''. The di ...

Santarém District The District of Santarém ( pt, Distrito de Santarém ) is a district of Portugal, located in Portugal's ''Centro Region''. The district capital is the city of Santarém. The district is the 3rd largest in Portugal, with an area of , and a po ...

. A graduate of

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 ...

's youth system, he never appeared however for its first team, going on to spend the following four seasons in the Primeira Liga with Gil Vicente FC,

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

and C.F. Estrela da Amadora, being relegated with the second club in 1994–95. In summer 1996, Costa signed with Stoke City of the English

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

. He left the Potters after only a couple of weeks and games, returning to his country with F.C. Alverca and remaining five seasons with the Lisbon outskirts side, three spent in the top flight. From 2001 to 2003, also as first choice and in the main division, Costa played with

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 ...

. Subsequently, he joined Germany's

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...

(

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

), staying two years in the country and suffering relegation in his second. Costa returned to Portugal midway through the 2005–06 campaign and signed a six-month contract with

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

, playing only 16 matches in the top tier over a three-year spell; 12 of those came in 2007–08, with the team ranking 16th and last. Afterwards, the 34-year-old moved to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

with

Atromitos Yeroskipou Atromitos Yeroskipou ( el, Ατρόμητος Γεροσκήπου) was a Cypriot football team based in the town of Yeroskipou, Paphos. The club was founded in 1956 but the club was competing until 2004 in Paphos local league. The club was pro ...

. One year later, Costa once again returned to his homeland, agreeing to a deal at lowly C.D. Pinhalnovense. He left in 2011 aged nearly 38 and retired shortly after, subsequently working as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

in amateur football.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Hugo 1973 births Living people Footballers from Santarém District Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Gil Vicente F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players F.C. Alverca players Vitória F.C. players U.D. Leiria players C.D. Pinhalnovense players English Football League players Stoke City F.C. players 2. Bundesliga players Rot-Weiß Oberhausen players Cypriot First Division players Atromitos Yeroskipou players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese football managers