João Ricardo Pereira Batalha Santos Ferreira (born 7 January 1970), known as João Ricardo (), is an Angolan retired

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

The son of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

settler A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...

s, João Ricardo was born in Sá da Bandeira,

Portuguese Angola Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa). I ...

. He returned to his parents' homeland in 1974, aged four, with the family moving to

Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...

where he started playing youth football, making his senior debuts with the same team, amateurs Sport Clube Leiria e Marrazes. João Ricardo joined Académico de Viseu FC in the 1993 summer, playing four seasons in 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 ...

and one in

the third is a light novel series, that has also been made into manga and anime series by Ryo Hoshino and illustrated by Ariko Ito. The anime series goes under the name . According to the New York Comic Convention, ''The Third'' has been licensed by ...

with the club. His first

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, ...

experience arrived with

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Founded on 8 December 1911, in the parish of Paranhos, it is mostly known f ...

, but he could only appear once in the league in his three seasons combined. João Ricardo returned to the second level in 2001 with

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

, playing in all the matches in his first year as the

Moreira de Cónegos Moreira de Cónegos is a Portuguese ''freguesia'' ("civil parish") and town in the municipality of Guimarães which is in the Braga District in northern Portugal. The population in 2021 was 4,652, in an area of 4.72 km². Sports The town is ...

side, led by Manuel Machado, promoted to the top flight for the first time ever. He maintained his first-choice status in two of the following three years, suffering relegation in 2005. After more than one year without a club, 37-year-old João Ricardo returned to his nation of birth and signed for

Atlético Petróleos de Luanda Atlético Petróleos de Luanda, also known as Petro Atlético de Luanda, or simply Petro Atlético or Petro de Luanda, is a football club from Luanda, Angola, founded in 1980. The club won its first title, the Angolan League, in 1982 and is th ...

, being included in the squad that competed in the 2007 edition of the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

. He retired from the game in the following year, but returned three years later for a brief spell in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

with Semarang United FC.

International career

João Ricardo opted to represent

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

internationally, his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

coming in 1996 at the age of 26. Ten years later, he appeared with the national team in the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, in an eventual group stage exit. João Ricardo was also selected for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, being a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with no competitive football played in one year at the time. He started in all three group stage matches for Angola in their first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

presence, conceding only twice and performing most notably in the 0–0 draw against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. After the tournament, João Ricardo was offered a contract by

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's Zob Ahan Isfahan FC (the Iranian national team also faced Angola in the World Cup), but the deal eventually fell through due to undisclosed circumstances.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joao Ricardo 1970 births Living people Footballers from Luanda Angolan people of Portuguese descent Angolan men's footballers Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Académico de Viseu F.C. players S.C. Salgueiros players Moreirense F.C. players Girabola players Atlético Petróleos de Luanda players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Angola men's international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Angolan expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Angola