Manuel dos Santos Fernandes (born 28 March 1974), known as Dos Santos, is a 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

left 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 ...

. Born in Cape Verde, Dos Santos represented France internationally.

Football career

Born in

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

, Cape Verde one year before the nation gained independence from Portugal, Dos Santos migrated to France at a very young age, and started his professional career at AS Monaco FC. He then played for Montpellier HSC and

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, spending four

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

seasons with the latter: with ''L'OM'', he appeared in nine complete matches in the

2003–04 UEFA Cup The 2003–04 UEFA Cup was won by Valencia in the final against Marseille. It wrapped up a league and UEFA Cup double for Valencia. Porto could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League and al ...

, including the 0–2 final loss against Valencia CF which would be his last match for the club. In the summer of 2004, Portuguese

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 S.L. Benfica bought Dos Santos for an undisclosed fee, and he signed a three-year contract. The first-choice during his debut campaign, as the

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

-based side ended an 11-year drought in the league, he appeared rarely in the following season, and left in the January 2006 transfer window. Dos Santos then returned to former club Monaco, where he replaced

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

-bound Patrice Evra after signing a -year link. After 46 competitive games during this stint, a new deal was not agreed and he was released. In July 2007, Dos Santos moved to

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

, where he spent one year before announcing his retirement from the game in February 2009, aged 35. Shortly after, however, he signed with amateurs

Rapid de Menton Rapid Omnisports de Menton is a French association football club founded in 1916. They are based in the town of Menton and their home stadium is the Stade Lucien Rhein. As of the 2020–21 season, they play in the Mediterranean League of the F ...

, close to where he had fixed his residence in Monaco. Dos Santos returned to Monaco in 2010, going on to be in charge of its youth teams for several years.

Honours

Monaco *

: 1996–97 Montpellier *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Marseille * UEFA Cup runner-up: 2003–04 Benfica *

: 2004–05 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

* Taça de Portugal runner-up: 2004–05

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dos Santos, Manuel 1974 births Living people Footballers from Praia People with acquired French citizenship French men's footballers Cape Verdean men's footballers Cape Verdean emigrants to France Men's association football defenders Ligue 1 players AS Monaco FC players Montpellier HSC players Olympique de Marseille players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Cape Verdean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal French sportspeople of Cape Verdean descent AS Monaco FC non-playing staff