Nuno Luís Costa Santos (born 20 April 1973) is a Portuguese retired 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, currently a goalkeeping coach.

Playing career

Born in

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

, Santos made his professional debut with his hometown club

Vitória FC Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

, also serving two loans with lowly teams (

Caldas S.C. Caldas Sport Clube is a Portuguese professional football team based in Caldas da Rainha. Founded on 15 May 1916, the club competes in the Campeonato de Portugal. History Between 1956 and 1959, Caldas participated in the Portuguese Liga, the to ...

and CD Operário). His performances in the 1997–98 campaign attracted the attention of Leeds United, but he made no official appearances whatsoever for the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side, returning to his country with S.L. Benfica. During his stint in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Santos was almost always only third choice, and went on to also serve several loans, including in Spain's

CD Badajoz Club Deportivo Badajoz is a Spanish football team based in Badajoz, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1905 and refounded in 2012, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, and holds home games at ''Estadio Nu ...

, playing no games in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

during his four-month spell. Released by Benfica in June 2004 after a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long loan spell at Vitória, he stabilised at

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

– which he had already represented on loan from Benfica – starting in two of his three campaigns in the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. After one year in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, appearing for both the Rochester Raging Rhinos and

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

, Santos returned to Portugal and played in slightly more than half of the league's matches for

Gondomar SC 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 2.4 ...

, with the club, also in the Segunda Liga, being relegated. In the summer, he dropped down to the third tier and joined

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a football club based in Arouca, Porto Metropolitan Area, Portugal. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,000-seat capacity. History Founde ...

Coaching career

Upon retiring at the age of 39, Santos worked as goalkeeper coach of the Canadian national team. In 2018, in the same capacity, he signed with

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played its ...

of the French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. Santos moved to English club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in November 2019, still in that role. After the dismissal of manager

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

on 19 April 2021, the entire coaching staff was relieved of their duties. On 7 April 2022, while working as goalkeeping coach of

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, he was involved in an altercation with the head coach of

FK Bodø/Glimt Fotballklubben Bodø/Glimt () is a Norwegian professional football club from the town of Bodø that currently plays in Eliteserien, the Norwegian top division. The club was founded in 1916 and is frequently referred to by its original club na ...

following a UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final match.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Nuno 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Setúbal Portuguese footballers Association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Vitória F.C. players Caldas S.C. players CD Operário players S.L. Benfica footballers C.D. Santa Clara players S.C. Beira-Mar players Gondomar S.C. players F.C. Arouca players Leeds United F.C. players CD Badajoz players Rochester New York FC players Toronto FC players Cypriot Second Division players Ethnikos Assia FC players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Canada Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Lille OSC non-playing staff Tottenham Hotspur F.C. non-playing staff A.S. Roma non-playing staff