Nivaldo Alves Freitas Santos (born 10 July 1988), known as Nivaldo, is a Cape Verdean professional footballer who plays as a

left 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 ...

and

left 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 ...

for

União de Coimbra União is the Portuguese word for Union. It may refer to: *the Brazilian federal government *União do Vegetal, a church known for its usage of Hoasca as tea * Brazilian frigate ''União'' (F45), a general-purpose ''Niterói'' class frigate launc ...

Club career

Born in São Nicolau, Nivaldo started playing football in his country with Batuque FC. Aged 18, he moved to Portugal to complete his development, joining Académica de Coimbra for his last year as a junior. From ages 19–23, Nivaldo competed solely in the Portuguese third division, representing

C.F. Caniçal Clube de Futebol Caniçal also known as CF Caniçal is a Portuguese football club from Machico, Madeira and founded in 1981. CF Caniçal currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal. They currently play their home games at Campo de Futebol do ...

C.D. Fátima Centro Desportivo de Fátima, simply known as Fátima, is a Portuguese football club based in Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém. Founded in 1966, it holds home matches at ''Estádio Papa Francisco'', with a capacity of 1,545 spectators. Clu ...

G.D. Ribeirão Grupo Desportivo de Ribeirão, known as Ribeirão, is a Portuguese football club based in Ribeirão, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Braga District. Founded in 1968, it currently plays in the Portuguese Third Division Portuguese may refer to: * anythin ...

and

G.D. Tourizense Grupo Desportivo Tourizense is a Portuguese football club based in Touriz, Tábua Municipality. Founded in 1975, it plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio Visconde do Vinhal'', with a 1,200-seat capacity. Histor ...

. On 16 August 2011, Nivaldo returned to Académica and thus moved straight into the

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, ...

, signing a three-year contract with the Students. He made his debut in the competition on 12 September by coming in as a 62nd-minute substitute in a 4–0 home win against

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 ...

, but spent most of his two-year spell with the side as understudy to

Hélder Cabral Hélder José Vaz Cabral (born 7 May 1984) is a Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left back for S.C. Olhanense. Club career Born in Peniche, Portugal, Pen ...

. He moved to the Czech Republic in summer 2013, joining FK Teplice. In January 2016, after a brief spell in the

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

, he returned to his previous club.

Honours

Académica * Taça de Portugal: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nivaldo 1988 births Living people Cape Verdean men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Batuque FC players C.D. Fátima players G.D. Ribeirão players G.D. Tourizense players Académica de Coimbra (football) players FK Teplice players FC Dinamo Minsk players CS Concordia Chiajna players Anadia F.C. players C.F. União de Coimbra players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Czech First League players Belarusian Premier League players Liga I players Liga II players Cape Verde men's international footballers 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations 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 Belarus Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Belarus Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Romania