Nélson Alexandre da Silva Veríssimo (born 17 April 1977) is a Portuguese 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 central defender, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Formed at Benfica, he totalled 221

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, ...

games with that team, Académica de Coimbra,

Alverca Alverca do Ribatejo () is a city (''cidade'') and a former civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Alverca do Ribatejo e Sobralinho. It covers an area of and had a pop ...

and

Vitória de Setúbal 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 ...

( Taça de Portugal winner in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

), as well as 149 in the second division for Alverca and Fátima. He earned 36 caps for Portugal up to under-21 and B-team level. As a manager, Veríssimo held several roles at Benfica, including twice being

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

of the first team, and two spells in charge of the reserves. He also led Estoril in the top flight.

Playing career

Veríssimo was born in Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District. During his professional career, the youth graduate at S.L. Benfica (having joined the club's youth system at the age of 12, he only appeared in four first-team games during his short spell) represented

F.C. Alverca Futebol Clube de Alverca is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Alverca do Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira. It currently plays in the Portuguese 3rd Division. History F.C. Alverca was founded on 1 September 1939. After many ...

– the first of his spells being while they acted as the former's farm team– Académica de Coimbra,

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 ...

and

C.D. Mafra Clube Desportivo Mafra is a Portuguese football club, currently playing in the Liga Bwin. They are based in the town of Mafra and own Campo Doutor Mário Silveira stadium, but the games are played in Estádio Municipal de Mafra. Founded in 1965 ...

. Signed for Fátima by

Rui Vitória Rui Carlos Pinho da Vitória (; born 16 April 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and a former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of the Egypt national football team. He most notably spent three and a half years with Benf ...

, Veríssimo's four seasons at the Estádio João Paulo II involved their only three seasons in the Segunda Liga; their only national title, the

2008–09 Segunda Divisão The 2008–09 Segunda Divisão season was the 75th season of the competition and the 59th season of recognised third-tier football in Portugal. Overview The league was contested by 47 teams in 4 divisions with GD Chaves, FC Penafiel, CD Fátima an ...

won against Leonardo Jardim's

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese association football, football football team, club from Chaves, Portugal, Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Está ...

; as well as a run to the fourth round of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

in 2007–08 via a penalty shootout win over

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 ...

Coaching career

Veríssimo rejoined Benfica immediately after retiring, being appointed assistant coach with the reserves in the second division, first under

Luís Norton de Matos Luís Maria Cabral Norton de Matos (born 14 December 1953) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a forward, and a manager. He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 211 matches and 36 goals over nine seasons, representing in the competitio ...

, then former teammate at the club

Hélder Cristóvão Hélder is a given name in Portuguese. The unrelated German-Jewish surname "Helder" is also given the accent in Portuguese, such as the Portuguese poet Herberto Hélder (1930-). The name is sometimes confused with Heitor. People named Hélder incl ...

. In January 2019, as

Bruno Lage Bruno Miguel Silva do Nascimento (born 12 May 1976), known as Bruno Lage (), is a Portuguese football manager who most recently was the head coach of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. During his short tenure as coach of Benfica in P ...

was named

at the main squad, he assumed the same position in the secondary team; he returned to the latter's technical staff shortly after, now permanently in charge of the main squad. When Lage resigned in July 2020, after Benfica fell into second place behind

in the closing stages of the season, Veríssimo took interim charge of the first team; he won 3–1 at home to

Boavista F.C. 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 ...

on his debut. After the appointment of

Jorge Jesus Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus (; born 24 July 1954) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He started his career with Sporting CP, going on to play for 12 ...

as manager of the first team, Veríssimo was named manager of the reserves, replacing Renato Paiva. In December 2021, after Jesus was sacked, he was again named interim of the main squad, leaving Benfica B as leader of the Portuguese second league. He led the team into the Final of the

, losing 2–1 against Sporting CP. Benfica remained trophyless, and Veríssimo guided the club to the Champions League quarter-finals, losing to Liverpool 6–4 on aggregate and a disappointing third place finish, qualifying to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. After leaving Benfica at the end of the season, Veríssimo was announced as the new manager of

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

on 2 July 2022, replacing Bruno Pinheiro. He was dismissed the following 24 February with the team 15th after 21 games, albeit seven points outside the relegation play-off place.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Vitória Setúbal * Taça de Portugal: 2004–05 Fátima * Portuguese Second Division: 2008–09

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Verissimo, Nelson 1977 births Living people People from Vila Franca de Xira Footballers from Lisbon District Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica footballers F.C. Alverca players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Vitória F.C. players C.D. Fátima players C.D. Mafra players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers S.L. Benfica B managers S.L. Benfica managers G.D. Estoril Praia managers Association football coaches S.L. Benfica non-playing staff