João Miguel da Cunha Teixeira (born 19 August 1981), known as Moreno, 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 le ...

who played mainly as a

defensive 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

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 o ...

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

. He spent most of his professional career with

, and also had a one-and-a-half-year spell in England with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. Over 12 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 185 matches and six goals.

Club career

Early years and Vitória

Born in the village of Urgeses,

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

, Moreno began playing professionally with F.C. Felgueiras –

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, not collecting one single league appearance – then moved to the lower leagues with C.A. Macedo de Cavaleiros and

Clube Caçadores das Taipas Clube Caçadores das Taipas is a Portuguese sports club from Caldas das Taipas. The men's football team plays in the Braga Football Association Serie 2. They played for many years in the old Terceira Divisão, but had stints on the third tier, ...

. In the 2004–05 season, he joined

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, commonly known as Vitória de Guimarães, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top-flight of football in Portugal. Vitória de Guimarães have finished thir ...

of the

. Moreno contributed 14 matches as Vitória moved straight from the second tier into a third place in 2007–08 (although mainly as a substitute). He spent most of the following campaign as a

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 ...

, due to the serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

condition of teammate

Henrique Sereno Henrique Sereno Fonseca (born 18 May 1985), known as Sereno, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Club career Guimarães Born in Elvas, Alto Alentejo, Sereno joined Vitória de Guimarães for 2005– ...

. Moreno appeared in 23 games in 2009–10 as the Minho side finished in sixth position, narrowly missing on

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

to the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

Leicester City

On 6 August 2010, Moreno signed a two-year contract with

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

club

, joining compatriots

Miguel Vítor Miguel Ângelo Leonardo Vítor (; born 30 June 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Israeli club Hapoel Be'er Sheva, where he is also captain, and for the Israel national team. He spent most of his career with Ben ...

and

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his countr ...

(manager). Four days later he made his debut for his new team, in a 4–3 win over

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

in the first round of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. In August 2011, after only six competitive appearances in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Moreno was told he was free to look for a new club, and was not given a squad number for the upcoming season. His contract was cancelled on 13 January 2012.

Nacional

Moreno returned to his country in the 2012 winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, joining

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

until 30 June 2014. He scored twice from 12 games in his first season, and agreed to cut ties with the club one year before his link expired.

Return to Guimarães

On 4 July 2013, Moreno returned to Vitória Guimarães on a two-year deal. On 7 June 2017, already a fringe player but considered an "unvaluable locker room presence" by coach Pedro Martins, the 35-year-old

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

renewed his contract for one season. Moreno remained connected to his main club after retiring, first as an assistant then as manager of the reserve team, reaching the latter in April 2021 after Bino was appointed at the main squad. The following month, after Bino's dismissal, he replaced him for the final two matches of the campaign, losing 3–1 at home against

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

in the last round and missing out on

to the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

after being overtaken by

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

. Having spent the 2021–22 season back in charge of the second team in Liga 3, Moreno returned to the main job at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques on 12 July when

Pepa Performance Evaluation Process Algebra (PEPA) is a stochastic process algebra designed for modelling computer and communication systems introduced by Jane Hillston in the 1990s. The language extends classical process algebras such as Milner's ...

was dismissed days before the new campaign was due to begin.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Guimarães Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Association football utility players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Felgueiras players Clube Caçadores das Taipas players Vitória S.C. players C.D. Nacional players Vitória S.C. B players English Football League players Leicester City F.C. players Portugal B international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Vitória S.C. managers