João Manuel da Silva Moreira (; born 30 June 1970) is a Portuguese former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er, who played as a defender for

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

Club career

In summer 1996

manager

Jan Mølby Jan Mølby (; born 4 July 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer and manager. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1982 to 1998. After starting his career with Kolding, he moved on to Ajax before spending twelve years playing in Engl ...

spent £50,000 to bring Moreira to the Welsh club, then languishing 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 ...

. It was reported that Moreira was a former Benfica player who had recently had a trial with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. At Swansea Moreira lived with teammate

Jason Price Jason Jeffrey Price (born 12 April 1977 in Pontypridd) is a Welsh footballer. He can play as a right sided midfielder or as a forward Club career Price had spells with Swansea City, Brentford (for whom he scored once against Reading), Tranme ...

, near a group of students who had a

Jacuzzi Jacuzzi Brands LLC (; ), through its subsidiaries, is a global manufacturer and distributor of branded baths, hot tubs, pools, saunas and, formerly, aircraft. Founded in 1915 by the Italian family of the same name, Jacuzzi is a federally regist ...

. The duo's off-field antics and excessive partying resulted in a rebuke from coach Alan Curtis. Quickly nicknamed "Joe" Moreira, a knee injury sustained in pre-season kept him out of the Swansea team until November 1996, when he played in a 1–0 win over

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. Huw Richards wrote in ''

When Saturday Comes ''When Saturday Comes'' (''WSC'') is a monthly magazine about football, first published in London in 1986. "It aims to provide a voice for intelligent football supporters, offering both a serious and humorous view of the sport, covering all the ...

'' that "elegant but over-left-footed" Moreira became rated highly by supporters at the

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 at ...

. Moreira played in the

1997 Football League Third Division play-off final The 1997 Football League Third Division play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 24 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Northampton Town and Swansea City to determine the fourth and final team to gain promo ...

, which Swansea lost 1–0 to an injury time goal from

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

John Frain John William Frain (born 8 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played for Birmingham City and Northampton Town. He played in all four divisions of the Football League, making nearly 500 league appearances for his two c ...

. When Mølby was sacked as manager, Moreira fell out of favour. He was made available for transfer in November 1997 and released in summer 1998.

Honours

Swansea City *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

play-offs runner-up:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Notes

References

External links

* (Soccerbase incorrectly attributes

Daniel Moreira Daniel Moreira (born 8 August 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Born in Maubeuge, Moreira started his career with Valenciennes FC before moving to Guingamp. He finished as the runners-up of t ...

's four European appearances for

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

to João Moreira.) * Portuguese men's footballers 1970 births Living people Footballers from Porto Men's association football defenders Swansea City A.F.C. players English Football League players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Wales Expatriate men's footballers in Wales C.D. Nacional players AD Fafe players Anadia F.C. players SC São João de Ver players {{Portugal-footy-defender-stub