Marco Paulo Faria de Lemos (born 28 May 1973), known as Marco Paulo, is a Portuguese 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 ...

who played as a

central 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 ...

, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Playing career

Born in

Sintra Sintra (, ) is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 377,835, in an area of . Sintra is one of the most urbanized and densely populat ...

Lisbon metropolitan area The Lisbon Metropolitan Area ( pt, Área Metropolitana de Lisboa; abbreviated as AML) is a metropolitan area in Portugal centered on Lisbon, the capital and largest city of the country. The metropolitan area, covering 18 municipalities is the l ...

, Marco Paulo spent seven of his first eight years as a senior with local G.D. Estoril Praia, playing his first two seasons in the Primeira Liga and a further five in the Segunda Liga. After two years with

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

, one in each major level, he returned to the capital and joined C.F. Os Belenenses. Marco Paulo was regularly used in his four-season spell at the

Estádio do Restelo The Estádio do Restelo is a multi-purpose stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. The stadium has a capacity of 19,856 people and was built in 1956, in an old stone quarry. It is situated behind the Jerónimos Monastery in the Lisbon parish of Belém. ...

, inclusively serving as

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. Aged 32, he returned to the second division and Estoril, acting as interim

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for five games and achieving only one draw, after which he returned to the top flight with C.F. Estrela da Amadora. After 21 league appearances in his debut campaign, veteran Marco Paulo was sparingly used the following two, with Estrela also being relegated in 2009 due to financial irregularities. He closed out his career at 37 after one year with another club in the Lisbon area, C.D. Mafra, amassing top-tier totals of 244 matches and nine goals.

Coaching career

Marco Paulo was appointed

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

at former side Belenenses in early April 2010. On 17 February 2012, with the side ranking 11th in division two, he replaced José Mota as head coach, eventually leading them to the fifth position. With the club again in the top flight, Marco Paulo replaced Mitchell van der Gaag after the latter stepped down early in the season due to health problems. He was relieved of his duties in March 2014, due to poor results.

References

External links

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National team data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marco Paulo 1973 births Living people People from Sintra Sportspeople from Lisbon District Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.U. Sintrense players G.D. Estoril Praia players O Elvas C.A.D. players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players C.D. Mafra players Portugal under-21 international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers G.D. Estoril Praia managers C.F. Os Belenenses managers