Fernando "Nando" Maria Neves (born 9 June 1978) is a retired

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender who played for the Cape Verde national football team.

Biography

He played with Batuque of Mindelo in its youth team. He appeared in the Portuguese team of Amarante FC for a season in 1998, after he was a squad member of Portimonense for a season. He was elected the best central defender and the best foreign player of the season 2006-2007 in

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, one of the first Cape Verdeans to be honoured, and he has recently signed a contract with a

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

team, Al Sailiya, for the season 2007/2008. In July 2009 he moved to FC Baník Ostrava, he made 54 appearances and scored seven goals. In 2011, he played with

LB Châteauroux La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (), commonly referred to as La Berrichonne or simply Châteauroux, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Châteauroux. The football team is a part of a sports club that consists of seve ...

for two seasons, he appeared 62 time and just scored a goal. He went back to the Czech Republic and played with Slavia Prague for a season, making 18 appearances and scoring no goals. A year later, he played with

FK Příbram FK Příbram is a Czech Republic, Czech professional football club based in Příbram. The club currently plays in the Czech National Football League (2nd tier). It is the legal successor to Dukla Prague, a club which won 11 national league title ...

also for a season and had 16 appearances and scored a goal, this was his last club appearance.

International career

He was a member of the Cape Verde national team in

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and

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (O ...

. After Cape Verde were eliminated, he received a call-up in August 2009 for a friendly against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and in May 2010 played in the 0–0 draw with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Nando was the Cape Verdean team captain in the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

, which marked the first participation for his country in this tournament. His performances throughout the tournament were rewarded by selection into the

Team of the Tournament. His last international match was on February 2, 2013, against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

at the ACN quarter-finals, in which his team were beaten 2-0. After this defeat he announced his immediate retirement from the national team.

Honours

;Grasshoppers *

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

: 2002–03 Individual *

Championnat de Tunisie The Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 (; ar, الرابطة المحترفة الأولى لكرة القدم) was previously called the Tunisian National Championship between 1956 and 1994. is the top division football tournament in Tunisia und ...

Best Central Defender: 2006–07 *

Best Foreign Player: 2006–07 *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

Team of the Tournament:

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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nando 1978 births Living people Footballers from Praia Footballers from Santiago, Cape Verde Cape Verdean men's footballers Cape Verde men's international footballers 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Men's association football defenders Batuque FC players Amarante F.C. players Portimonense S.C. players US Monastir (football) players Al-Sailiya SC players FC Baník Ostrava players LB Châteauroux players SK Slavia Prague players FK Příbram players Cape Verdean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in France Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in France Czech First League players Ligue 2 players Qatar Stars League players