Nuno Miguel Torres Piloto de Albuquerque (born 19 March 1982), known as Piloto, is a Portuguese

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 plays as a

central 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 ...

Club career

Born in Tondela, Viseu District, Piloto was brought up in the youth system of Académica de Coimbra. His first season as a senior would be spent with semi-professional

Anadia FC Anadia Futebol Clube ''(abbreviated as Anadia FC)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Anadia in the district of Aveiro. Anadia is also a club for field hockey and basketball. Background Anadia FC currently plays in the Campeonato de Po ...

, in 2001–02, after which he played two years with Académica's reserves in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

; his debut with the first team arrived late into 2002–03. Piloto was used irregularly in his first years with the main squad (six

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, ...

appearances, then 25 and nine), definitely becoming an important part in 2007–08 and scoring his first league goals in the following campaign in home matches 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 ...

(1–1) and

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

(1–0). By this time, he was already team captain. In June 2009, after rejecting offers for a new deal, Piloto moved abroad and signed a three-year contract with

Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. Gymnastic Club Iraklis Thessaloniki Football Club ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης) is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. As of 2022, t ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. In the end of July, during pre-season training, he suffered a tear in the

ligament A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal li ...

s of his left

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 ...

after a strong challenge by Matías Lequi, being sidelined for six months. The surgery took place in his country, on 10 August, being performed by

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

's medical staff. After failing to make a single appearance, Piloto returned to Portugal and signed a two-year deal with top flight club

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 ...

. On 6 September 2013, after three years with little playing time, narrowly avoiding relegation in his last, he rejoined Académica. On 23 June 2016, in spite of his team's

relegation 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. ...

to the Segunda Liga, 34-year-old Piloto renewed his contract – about to expire – for another year.

Academic career

Still as a professional footballer, Piloto graduated from the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coi ...

with a degree in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

, majoring in 2005. This was followed by a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 2009.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piloto, Nuno 1982 births Living people Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players Anadia F.C. players G.D. Tourizense players S.C. Olhanense players Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Sportspeople from Viseu District