Miguel Ângelo Moita Garcia (born 4 February 1983) 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 mainly as a

right-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 ...

Club career

Garcia was born in Moura, Alentejo, being a youth product of

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and making his debut with the first team in 2003–04, in a 2–1 away win against Académica de Coimbra where he played the first half. The following season was remarkable for him: first, against

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 ...

in the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

, he missed the

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

that eliminated his team in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

on 26 January 2005. On 5 May, in the last minute of extra time, he scored a header in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

semi-finals second leg against

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and host ...

, as Sporting lost 2–3 away but qualified through the away goals rule. Garcia signed a pre-contract agreement with

Reggina Calcio Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are nic ...

, joining in summer 2007 after his link with Sporting expired. He suffered a serious knee injury in October, and did not play a single match for the Italian side; on 17 March of the following year, the club communicated the decision to terminate his contract. In July 2009, after more than two years out of football, Garcia joined

Jorge Costa Jorge Paulo Costa Almeida (born 14 October 1971) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a central defender, currently manager of Académico de Viseu. Nicknamed ''Bicho'' (animal) and ''Tanque'' (tank) by his colleagues and fans for ...

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

, recently promoted to the Primeira Liga. However, as João Pereira arrived from

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 ...

to former side Sporting in late December, he was chosen as his immediate replacement, moving for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

50,000 on a one-and-a-half-year contract. On 1 September 2014, after spells in Turkey and Spain, Garcia joined

NorthEast United FC NorthEast United FC is an Indian professional football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded on 13 April 2014 during the inaugural season of Indian Sup ...

for the inaugural campaign of the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

. On 15 January of the following year he signed with another club in the nation,

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

Sporting Clube de Goa Sporting Clube de Goa, simply known as Sporting Goa (also known by its abbreviation SCG), is an Indian professional football club based in Panaji, in the Indian state of Goa, that competes in Goa Professional League. The club has also competed ...

, returning to his previous team on 20 June. After suffering a bilateral achilles tendinopathy injury in the opening game of the 2015 season, against

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established ...

on 6 October, Garcia was sidelined for several months.

International career

Garcia was a member of the Portugal under-21 side at the

2004 UEFA European Championship The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, which saw them finish in third place. He failed to gain a place in the squad that competed in Olympic football in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

the same year, however.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Garcia majored in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

and opened his own company.

Career statistics

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 2006–07 *

runner-up: 2004–05 Braga *UEFA Europa League runner-up:

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. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Miguel 1983 births Living people People from Moura, Portugal Sportspeople from Beja District Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP B players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Olhanense players S.C. Braga players Reggina 1914 players Süper Lig players Orduspor footballers Segunda División players RCD Mallorca players Indian Super League players I-League players NorthEast United FC players Sporting Clube de Goa players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal B international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in India Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in India