Nilton Rogério Cardoso Fernandes (born 7 March 1979), known simply as Nilton, is a

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

an former

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 as a

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 ...

. He spent most of his career in Portugal, amassing

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 110 matches and one goal with four teams.

Club career

Born in the island of

Brava Brava or La Brava may refer to: Geography *Brava, Cape Verde, a volcanic island * Brava, Costa Rica, an island of Costa Rica (Isla Brava) *Costa Brava, a coastal area Mediterranean of northeast Spain *Barawa, a town in Somalia commonly known as ' ...

, Nilton played youth football with Portuguese club

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

, who loaned him to

Gondomar S.C. Gondomar Sport Club is a Portuguese football club based in Gondomar, Porto District. Founded on 1 May 1921, it currently plays in the fourth-tier Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio de São Miguel'', with a capacity of 2.45 ...

and

AD Esposende Associação Desportiva de Esposende ''(abbreviated as AD Esposende)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Esposende in the district of Braga. Background AD Esposende currently plays in the Terceira Divisão Série A which is the fourth tie ...

to kickstart his senior career. Upon his return, he appeared in 12

games in the 1999–2000 season, helping to a fourth-place finish. In the following years, Nilton alternated between the top division and the Segunda Liga, representing

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

(where he scored his first goal, contributing to a 3–2 home win against C.F. Estrela da Amadora on 13 May 2001 as his team was eventually

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

), Gil Vicente FC,

F.C. Marco Futebol Clube do Marco was a Portuguese football team based in Marco de Canaveses, Porto District. Founded in 1927, it held home games at ''Estádio Municipal de Marco de Canaveses'', which has a 10,000-seat capacity. History Futebol Clube do Mar ...

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Founded on 8 December 1911, in the parish of Paranhos, it is mostly known f ...

and

F.C. Penafiel Futebol Clube de Penafiel ( or ) is a Portuguese Association football, football club founded on 8 February 1951 and based in the city of Penafiel, Portugal, Penafiel. Brief history Penafiel first reached the Portuguese Liga, first division in Po ...

. He left the country in the summer of 2006, scoring a career-best six goals for

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top flight of Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. ...

and

winning Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * '' Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Foot Pole, 2022 ...

the

Slovenian Football Cup The Slovenian Football Cup ( sl, Pokal Nogometne zveze Slovenije, ) is the top knockout tournament of Slovenian football and the second most important football competition in Slovenia after the Slovenian PrvaLiga championship. The cup was establi ...

. From 2007 until his retirement five years later, aged 33, Nilton played for

Ethnikos Achna FC Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club currentl ...

(Cyprus),

NK Maribor NK may refer to: Businesses *Imerys (Euronext ticker code NK) *Nordiska Kompaniet, a department store in Stockholm, Sweden *Northrup-King Seed Company *Spirit Airlines (IATA code NK) *NK.pl, a Polish school-based social networking service Places ...

(Slovenia),

PFC Chernomorets Burgas PSFC Chernomorets Burgas ( bg, ПСФК Черноморец Бургас) or simply Chernomorets ( bg, Черноморец) was a Bulgarian football club from the city of Burgas. The club never won any major competition, its most notable achi ...

(Bulgaria),

Akritas Chlorakas Akritas Chlorakas ( el, Ακρίτας Χλώρακας) is a Cypriot football club based in Chloraka, Paphos. The club was founded in 1971, and currently plays in the Cypriot First Division. Akritas' colours are green and white, and they play ...

(

Cypriot Second Division The Cypriot Second Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Β΄ Κατηγορίας) is the second highest football division of the Cypriot football league system. Administrated by the Cyprus Football Association, it is contested by 16 teams, with th ...

) and Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam FC ( Israeli second level).

Honours

Koper *

: 2006–07 Maribor *

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football league system. ...

: 2008–09

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilton Fernandes 1979 births Living people People from Brava, Cape Verde Cape Verdean men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Boavista F.C. players Gondomar S.C. players A.D. Esposende players C.D. Aves players Gil Vicente F.C. players F.C. Marco players S.C. Salgueiros players F.C. Penafiel players Slovenian PrvaLiga players FC Koper players NK Maribor players Cypriot First Division players Cypriot Second Division players Ethnikos Achna FC players Akritas Chlorakas players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PSFC Chernomorets Burgas players Liga Leumit players Cape Verde men's international footballers Cape Verdean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria