Jorge Amaral Rodrigues (born 1 June 1970), known as Amaral, is a former Portuguese 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

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, and a current

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 o ...

. He amassed

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, ...

totals of 151 games and nine goals over the course of 12 seasons, in representation of seven clubs including Sporting and Benfica. Amaral won one FIFA U-20 World Cup with

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 ...

Club career

Born in

João Belo Xai-Xai () is a city in the south of Mozambique. Until 1975, the city was named João Belo. It is the capital of Gaza Province. As of 2007 it has a population of 116,343. History Portuguese rule Xai-Xai, formerly João Belo, developed in the ...

, Portuguese Mozambique, Amaral joined Sporting CP's youth system as a 13-year-old. In 1988 he was loaned to fellow

team Académico de Viseu FC, his first game in the competition occurring on 11 September in a 1−1 home draw against

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

. In 1989–90, Amaral first appeared in the league with his main club, starting and playing 59 minutes in a 2–1 home win over

F.C. Penafiel Futebol Clube de Penafiel ( or ) is a Portuguese Association football, football club founded on 8 February 1951 and based in the city of Penafiel, Portugal, Penafiel. Brief history Penafiel first reached the Portuguese Liga, first division in Po ...

on 25 February 1990 courtesy of manager

Raul Águas Raul António Águas (born 12 January 1949) is a Portuguese retired football striker and manager. Playing career Born in Lobito, Portuguese Angola, Águas started his career having an unsuccessful spell at S.L. Benfica, moving after three year ...

. However, the following season, he suffered a car crash that sidelined him for several months; when he regained full fitness he was used mainly as a substitute, his best input at the '' Estádio José Alvalade'' consisting of 13 matches in 1992–93. In the summer of 1994, Amaral joined S.L. Benfica. He was played sparingly during his spell there, being best remembered for a disallowed goal in the second leg of the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

: Vítor Baía saved a clear shot using his hands well off the penalty area, Amaral managed to insert the ball in the goal but

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

Donato Ramos called for offside, in spite of no visible interference from any attacking player. Subsequently, Amaral went on to represent in quick succession, always in the top division,

FC Felgueiras Futebol Clube de Felgueiras was a Portuguese football club from Felgueiras. The club was founded on 16 August 1936 and ended in 2005 due to financial problems. The club played at the Estádio Dr. Machado de Matos which was their home since the ...

(being managed by

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 12 ...

and being relegated), Belenenses,

Vitória F.C. Vitória Futebol Clube is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Setúbal. Popularly known as Vitória de Setúbal (), the club was born under the original name Sport Victoria from the ashes of the small Bonfim Foot-Ball Club. When it comes ...

and

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

. Whilst at the service of the latter side, on 14 May 2000, he scored in a 3–2 win against Vitória de Guimarães after an individual effort. At the age of 30, Amaral moved straight into the third level, where he appeared for

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 ...

and

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

. After retiring altogether in 2005, he began working as a coach.

International career

Amaral represented

at the

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta'if. Qualification ...

, scoring the only goal in the semi-finals against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

to help the nation conquer the tournament. He had previously represented the under-16 at the

1986 UEFA European Under-16 Championship The 1986 UEFA European Under-16 Championship was the fourth edition of UEFA's European Under-16 Football Championship. Greece hosted the championship, during 1–10 May 1986. 16 teams entered the competition, and the Spain won its first title. Q ...

and the under-18 at the

1988 UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1988 Final Tournament was held in Czechoslovakia. It also served as the European qualification for the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship. Teams The following teams qualified for the tournament: * (host ...

, finishing runners-up in the latter. All categories comprised, he netted four times in 36 caps.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amaral, Jorge 1970 births Living people People from Gaza Province People from Portuguese Mozambique Mozambican emigrants to Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football wingers Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP footballers Académico de Viseu F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers F.C. Felgueiras players C.F. Os Belenenses players Vitória F.C. players C.D. Santa Clara players Atlético Clube de Portugal players S.C. Olhanense players GD Beira-Mar players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese football managers