Manuel José da Luz Correia Curto (born 9 July 1986) 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Born in

Torres Vedras Torres Vedras () is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon in the Oeste region, in the Centro of Portugal. The population was 83,075, in an area of . History In 1148, Afonso I took ...

Lisbon District Lisbon District ( pt, Distrito de Lisboa, ) is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the cur ...

, Curto spent seven years in

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

's youth system, where he operated as a forward. In the following years, however, he played in a more defensive position. After several seasons in the lower leagues, Curto joined G.D. Estoril Praia in the Segunda Liga. In the 2010–11 campaign he made his Primeira Liga debut with Associação Naval 1º de Maio, his first match in the competition occurring on 24 September 2010 as he played nine minutes in a 3–1 away loss against

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

. On 20 March 2011, Curto scored twice from the

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. ...

spot to help hosts Naval come from behind 0–2 to earn a 2–2 draw against

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 ...

, 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 ...

club eventually suffered relegation, returning to the second division after a six-year stay. He met the same fate in 2011–12 with his following team,

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. ...

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curto, Manuel 1986 births Living people People from Torres Vedras Sportspeople from Lisbon District Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica B players S.C.U. Torreense players C.D. Pinhalnovense players G.D. Estoril Praia players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players U.D. Leiria players Atlético Clube de Portugal players Segunda División B players Kazakhstan Premier League players FC Taraz players Ekstraklasa players Zagłębie Lubin players Belgian First Division A players Lierse S.K. players Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Poland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium