Francisco Ernandi Lima da Silva (born 2 July 1959 in Brasilia), better known as Mirandinha, is a Brazilian 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 striker.

Club career

He had unsuccessful early spells at Ceará and Fortaleza, before finding some success at the 'third club' in Fortaleza city, Ferroviário. He then moved to play for Ponte Preta. As of 1981 he was playing for

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood ('' bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of ...

in the Taça de Ouro. Mirandinha signed for Newcastle United in 1987 for £575,000, becoming the first Brazilian to play in English football. He made his debut in September 1987, in a 1–1 draw away to

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. He left Newcastle in 1989, returning to his former club

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

. In 1991, he moved from Palmeiras to join Belenenses, although he was only there for a short time, playing three Portuguese League matches. By late February he was playing for

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

, and he scored two goals for them in the

1991 Copa Libertadores The 1991 Copa Libertadores was won by Colo-Colo of Chile after defeating Olimpia of Paraguay with a 3–0 aggregate score in the finals. The championship would mark a first for a Chilean club team in an international tournament. Twenty-one clubs ...

.1991 Copa Libertadores results and line-ups at RSSSF
(although appearance data is not listed for Corinthians match against Flamengo on 20 March 1991, which was abandoned, although the match was declared valid) After leaving Corinthians he played for Fortaleza, and he then had spells in Japan with Shimizu S-Pulse and

Shonan Bellmare is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuka ...

International career

Mirandinha won four caps for the Brazil national team, all in 1987, with his only international goal coming against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in a 1–1 draw during the

1987 Rous Cup The 1987 Rous Cup was the third staging of the Rous Cup international football competition, based around the England–Scotland football rivalry. For the first time, a third team was invited to create a three-team tournament. In order to gain ...

Post-playing career

As of July 2013 he was a director at Maguary, who were playing in the third division of the

Campeonato Cearense The Campeonato Cearense is the football league of the state of Ceará, Brazil. Format The Campeonato Cearense has three divisions with the following division and format (as in any other Brazilian soccer championship, the format can change ev ...

. In 2014 he was the manager of the Castelão stadium in Fortaleza, a host venue in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Club statistics

:A. Two appearances and one goal in Simod Cup included in total. :B. One appearance in Simod Cup and one appearance in

Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy The Football League Centenary Trophy (also known as the Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy for sponsorship reasons) was an English football tournament held during the 1988-89 season to celebrate the 100th birthday of The Football League. The com ...

included in total.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirandinha 1959 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazil international footballers 1987 Copa América players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Primeira Liga players English Football League players J1 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Japan Brazilian football managers Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Clube Náutico Capibaribe players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Newcastle United F.C. players C.F. Os Belenenses players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Shimizu S-Pulse players Shonan Bellmare players Ferroviário Atlético Clube (CE) managers Hajer Club managers Goiânia Esporte Clube managers Atlético Rio Negro Clube managers Al-Raed FC managers Nacional Futebol Clube managers Esporte Clube Flamengo managers Fortaleza Esporte Clube managers Parnahyba Sport Club managers Ríver Atlético Clube managers Expatriate football managers in Sudan Association football forwards Sportspeople from Ceará