José Martins Leal (born 23 March 1965) is a Portuguese retired footballer 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 ...

Club career

Leal was born in Sá da Bandeira, Portuguese Angola. During his professional career he represented Académico de Viseu FC (his first and last club, where he retired at age 38 in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

Sporting Clube de Portugal 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 fo ...

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 ...

F.C. 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 c ...

C.F. Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela da Amadora (), sometimes just Estrela, is a Portuguese sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. It's the successor of Clube de Futebol Estrela da Amadora, founded in 1932 and extinct in ...

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 ...

. With the

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

club, Leal was first-choice during most of his five-year spell, also scoring regularly for a defensive player, but, in his last season, was demoted to third-string after youth graduate

Paulo Torres Paulo Manuel Banha Torres (born 25 November 1971) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a left back, currently the manager of Angolan club C.R.D. Libolo. Playing career Torres was born in Évora, Alentejo Region. During his career, wh ...

and newly signed Budimir Vujačić, and left the ''Lions'' without any silverware conquered.

International career

Leal earned 15 caps for Portugal – one goal – almost all of them coming during the UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying campaign, as the national team did not make it to the final stages in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leal, Jose 1965 births Living people People from Lubango Portuguese footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Académico de Viseu F.C. players Sporting CP footballers C.F. Os Belenenses players F.C. Felgueiras players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players C.D. Santa Clara players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese football managers Académico de Viseu F.C. managers C.D. Tondela managers Portuguese people of Angolan descent