Jaílton Alves Miranda (born 2 August 1989), known as Kuca, is a

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

an professional footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Portuguese club U.D. Leiria.

Club career

Born in

Praia Praia (, Portuguese language, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.

, Kuca played for AD Bairro and

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

in his country. He moved to Portugal in 2010, signing for lowly SC Mirandela and scoring four goals in 27 games in his first season to help the club promote to 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 ...

. Early into the 2012 January transfer window, Kuca joined

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese football club from Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Estádio Municipal de Chaves. Their home kit is red-and-bl ...

. He achieved promotion to the Segunda Liga at the end of

2012–13 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 ...

, making his debut as a professional on 11 August 2013 and scoring the only goal of the away match against

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 ...

. He added a further 11 until the end of the campaign, as his team comfortably avoided relegation with an eighth-place finish; alongside compatriot Rambé, he was chosen by readers of daily newspaper '' O Jogo'' for the team of players competing in that level for the past 12 months. Kuca moved to

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, ...

side

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

on 26 June 2014. His maiden appearance in the competition took place on 18 August, and he netted in a 1–1 draw at

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a football club based in Arouca, Porto Metropolitan Area, Portugal. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,000-seat capacity. History Founde ...

. On 12 January 2015, Kuca signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Kardemir Karabükspor in the Turkish Süper Lig. In the summer, however, he returned to Portugal, being loaned to

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 ...

. The following three seasons, he represented Rio Ave FC (still owned by Kardemir), Arouca and

. In October 2018, Kuca moved to the Romanian Liga I with FC Hermannstadt, alongside former Rio Ave teammate Pedro Moreira. He made his competitive debut on the 30th, coming on as a late substitute in a

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

match against FC Voluntari and scoring the final 3–0 which qualified to the quarter-finals.

International career

Kuca earned his first cap for

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

on 28 March 2009, in a 5–0

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

win over

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

. He scored his first goal on 15 November 2014, contributing to a 3–1 home victory against Niger in the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

qualifiers. Kuca was summoned by manager Rui Águas for the finals in Equatorial Guinea, featuring in all three group stage fixtures as the Blue Sharks were eliminated at that stage with three draws.

International goals

(Cape Verde score listed first, score column indicates score after each Kuca goal)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuca 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Praia Footballers from Santiago, Cape Verde Cape Verdean footballers Association football forwards Cape Verdean National Championships players Santiago South Premier Division players AD Bairro players Boavista FC (Cape Verde) players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players SC Mirandela players G.D. Chaves players G.D. Estoril Praia players C.F. Os Belenenses players Rio Ave F.C. players F.C. Arouca players Boavista F.C. players C.D. Feirense players U.D. Leiria players Süper Lig players Kardemir Karabükspor footballers FC Hermannstadt players Cape Verde international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Cape Verdean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Romania Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Romania