Nélson Augusto Tomar Marcos (born 10 June 1983), known simply as Nélson, is a Cape Verdean-born 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
right 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 ...
.
After making a name for himself at
Benfica, appearing in 107 official games over three seasons, he went on to spend the vast majority of his career in Spain, representing
Betis,
Osasuna
Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...
,
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...
and
Alcorcón
Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384.
Geography
The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...
. He also competed professionally in Italy and Cyprus.
Nélson won four
caps for the
Portugal national team, during three years.
Club career
Early years
Born in
Sal, Cape Verde, Nélson started his professional career with
Vilanovense FC. He began making a name in 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, ...
with
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 ...
, having joined from soon-to-be-extinct
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 ...
also in
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
.
In May 2005, Nélson was involved in a car crash along with countryman and former Boavista player
José Bosingwa
José Bosingwa da Silva (born 24 August 1982) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a right-back.
An attacking fullback, his pace and ability to get up and down the flanks created problems for the opposition. He spent most of his prof ...
, who represented
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 ...
at the time. The latter, behind the wheel of his
jeep
Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...
at the time of the accident, was travelling too quickly and due to wet conditions he crashed the car into an
embankment
Embankment may refer to:
Geology and geography
* A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea
* Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...
which was followed by the car bursting into flames; one passenger required his foot to be amputated, whilst the other three were unharmed.
Benfica
Nélson signed with
S.L. Benfica from Boavista for
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
1.5 million in the summer of 2005, on a five-year contract. He made the right-back spot his own upon his arrival, making twenty-five appearances during
his first season; in the
2006–07 campaign, he was also a starter.
In the
2006–07 UEFA Champions League
The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan ...
, after having faced
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
in
the same competition and stage
the season before, Nélson scored a fantastic goal with a long-range shot into
Edwin van der Sar's top-right hand corner at
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
, on 6 December 2006; eventually, the game was lost 1–3 and Benfica had to settle for a
place
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own Municipality, municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road ...
in the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
after finishing third.
Betis
In late August 2008, Nélson moved to
Real Betis
Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...
in Spain for €6 million, on a five-year deal. He quickly became an automatic first-choice, as the
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...
side was
eventually relegated.
On 31 August 2010, Nélson was loaned to
CA Osasuna, with the
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
se having an option to make the move permanent at
the season's end. Battling with
Damià for first-choice status throughout the vast majority of the campaign, he netted on 20 December 2010 in a 4–0 away victory over
Hércules CF
Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...
, his first goal in over four years.
On 11 May 2011, in the last minute of the first half of a
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
home fixture against
Sevilla FC
Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...
(eventual 3–2 home win), Nélson collided with opponent
Lautaro Acosta, fracturing his left ankle in the outcome. His injury was not as serious as initially expected though.
Nélson spent the first part of
2011–12, with Betis again in the top level, recovering from his condition. On 4 December 2011, in one of his first
bench appearances, he was caught on camera talking to his previous team Osasuna's assistant manager
Alfredo
Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name.
People with the given name include:
*Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...
, leading to rumours that he was filtering his team's lineup to the opposition, which was denied by both parties.
On 11 February 2012, in his very first game for the ''Verdiblancos'' upon his return, Nélson scored from long distance in the
90th minute of the match against
Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...
, for a 2–1 home win.
Palermo
On 28 January 2013, days after being released by Betis, Nélson moved to Italy's
U.S. Città di Palermo, agreeing to a contract until June 2015 and rejoining former Benfica teammate
Fabrizio Miccoli. He scored in his
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
debut the following week, but his late backheel goal could not help prevent a 1–2 home loss to
Atalanta BC
Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. The club plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11.
Atalanta was founded in 1907 by Lice ...
.
Nélson returned to Spain and its top division on 2 August 2013, signing with
UD Almería in 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 deal. He subsequently returned to Palermo, but was immediately deemed surplus to requirements and was not even called up to join the first team pre-season camp; his contract was terminated by mutual consent in August 2014.
Later years
In late August 2014,
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
Nélson joined
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 ...
. He made his competitive debut on 13 September, featuring as a
right 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 playing 78 minutes in a 1–1 away draw against
Sporting CP.
Nélson returned to Spain on 29 July 2015, signing a one-year deal with
AD Alcorcón.
International career
Nélson was granted
Portuguese citizenship in December 2005, and played in the
2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...
. He received his first call-up to
the senior team in the
UEFA Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
qualifier
In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
against
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
on 15 November 2006, but did not leave the bench.
Nélson finally made his full debut on 31 March 2009, appearing in a 2–0
friendly
Friendly may refer to:
Places
* Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England
* Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States
* ...
win with
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, Switzerland.
Statistics
Honours
AEK Larnaca
*
Cypriot Cup
The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...
:
2017–18
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson Marcos
1983 births
Living people
People from Sal, Cape Verde
Portuguese people of Cape Verdean descent
Cape Verdean footballers
Portuguese footballers
Association football defenders
Primeira Liga players
Liga Portugal 2 players
Segunda Divisão players
S.C. Salgueiros players
Boavista F.C. players
S.L. Benfica footballers
C.F. Os Belenenses players
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Real Betis players
CA Osasuna players
UD Almería players
AD Alcorcón footballers
Serie A players
Palermo F.C. players
Cypriot First Division players
AEK Larnaca FC players
Portugal under-21 international footballers
Portugal international footballers
Portuguese expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Expatriate footballers in Cyprus
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus