Luís Miguel Bilro Pereira (born 1 April 1971), known as Bilro, is a Portuguese retired

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 ...

and

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...

player. While playing association football, in a career that lasted over a decade, he operated as

right 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 ...

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 ...

, having represented

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

during 11 professional seasons. He amassed

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, ...

totals of 245 games and nine goals.

Football career

Bilro was born in Borba,

Évora District Évora District ( pt, Distrito de Évora ) is located in Alentejo, in southern Portugal. The district capital is the city of Évora. Municipalities The district is composed by 14 municipalities: * Alandroal * Arraiolos * Borba * Estremoz * Év ...

. After finishing his footballing formation at

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 ...

he made his professional debut with Seixal FC, where he had begun as an infant. He went to represent

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

and

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

, returning to Sporting for 1992–93 and spending an entire season without any official appearances, being released afterwards. After leaving Sporting, Bilro moved to

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

, where he would appear in nearly 400 competitive matches, helping the club achieve

promotion in his first year and being coached in the 2001–02 campaign by young manager

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

, as the side from the

Lis River Lis (Portuguese: ''Rio Lis''; ) is a river in central Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europ ...

finished seventh.

Beach soccer

After spending the latter part of 2004–05 with modest

S.C. Lusitânia The Sport Clube Lusitânia (commonly shortened to ''S.C. Lusitânia'') is a sports club located in Angra do Heroísmo on the island of Terceira, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Besides a football department, the club also has a bask ...

, Bilro moved to

, helping the Portugal national team win the

BSWW Mundialito The BSWW Mundialito, often simply known as Mundialito, is an annual international beach soccer tournament that takes place between few select countries, which are invited to play at the tournament organized by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW). First ...

in 2008 and 2009. Shortly after, he moved back to Sporting but in his new sport. In 2011, Bilro retired at the age of 40 and started coaching his last team.

Honours

Beach soccer

Country

* Euro League: 2007, 2008 *

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 ...

: Third place 2008 * Euro League: 2007 (in Portugal); Runner-up 2007 (Italy); Third place 2007 (Spain) * Mundialito: 2008, 2009; Runner-up 2007

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilro, Luis 1971 births Living people Portuguese footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Seixal F.C. players Atlético Clube de Portugal players S.C. Olhanense players Sporting CP footballers U.D. Leiria players S.C. Lusitânia players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese beach soccer players Sportspeople from Évora District