João Daniel Mendes Real (born 13 May 1983) 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 le ...

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 ...

. He made 211 competitive appearances over eight years for Académica, where he won the

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 seaso ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. He additionally represented

Naval A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

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, ...

and

Covilhã Covilhã () is a city and a municipality in the Centro region, Portugal. The city proper had 34,772 inhabitants in 2001. The municipality population in 2011 was 51,797, in an area of . It is located in the Beiras e Serra da Estrela subregion and B ...

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

, totalling 122 and 115 games in each division.

Club career

Born in

, Real started playing amateur football with locals of A.D. Estação. In 2003, at the age of 20, he switched to city giants Sporting Clube, twice helping them promote to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. In the summer of 2008, after a solid

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

– his second promotion – which brought him six goals in 25 matches, Real moved to the

with

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, is a Portuguese football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it plays in the Division of Honour in the Coimbra Football Associ ...

. His

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

was quite unassuming, as he had to wait until 15 February 2009 to make his league debut, playing eight minutes in a 2–2 away draw against

C.D. Trofense Clube Desportivo Trofense (), commonly known as Trofense, is a Portuguese football club based in Trofa, Portugal. Founded in 1930, it plays in Segunda Liga, holding home games at '' Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense'', with a capacity of 5,0 ...

. In the 2009–10 campaign, with Naval again remaining in the top flight, Real appeared more, but was still a fringe player. On 17 April 2010, he found the net in the club's 3–1 win at

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

, but also scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

. Real featured regularly in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, but the

Figueira da Foz Figueira da Foz (), also known as Figueira for short, is a city and a municipality in the Coimbra District, in Portugal. Practically at the midpoint of the Iberian Peninsula's Atlantic coast, it is located at the mouth of the Mondego River, west ...

side were relegated after a six-year stay. In June 2011, he signed for Académica de Coimbra on a free transfer. In his

with the ''Students'', he played

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 ...

of the

as they won their first trophy in 73 years via a 1–0 victory over

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 ...

. On 20 August 2012, in the first game of the new season, Real was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

after seven minutes at

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 ...

for conceding a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

with a foul on

Nildo Petrolina Evanildo Fernandes Gomes (born 1 May 1986), known as Nildo Petrolina, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Sociedade Desportiva Juazeirense. He spent most of his career in Portugal, making 153 Primeira Liga appea ...

; his team recovered from a 3–0 deficit to earn a draw. In May 2014, he extended his contract for three more years. Real remained a regular for Académica over the coming years, including after their relegation in 2016. He retired in July 2019 at the age of 36, after his link expired; also hanging up his boots on the same day was

Marinho Marinho is both a given name and a Portuguese surname. Notable people with the name include: ;Given name * Marinho Peres (born 1947), a Brazilian footballer ;Surname * António Marinho e Pinto (born 1950), Portuguese lawyer and former journalist, ...

, who had arrived at the club in precisely the same deal from Naval and was the only other survivor from the cup final win.

Honours

Académica *

: 2011–12

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Real, Joao 1983 births Living people People from Covilhã Sportspeople from Castelo Branco District Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.C. Covilhã players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players Académica de Coimbra (football) players