Paulo Sérgio Martinho Cabral (born 24 June 1972) is a Portuguese former 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 either a right or left back.

Club career

Born in

Vila Nova de Cerveira Vila Nova de Cerveira (, ) is a municipality in the district of Viana do Castelo in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 9,253,Viana do Castelo District The Viana do Castelo District ( pt, Distrito de Viana do Castelo ) is a district located in the northwest of Portugal, bordered on the north by Spain ( Galicia) and on the south by Braga District. It has an area of and a population of 252,011 (2 ...

, Cabral started his senior career with local

SC Vianense Sport Clube Vianense ''(abbreviated as SC Vianense)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Viana do Castelo in the district of Viana do Castelo. SC Vianense currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal. The club was founded in 1898 and is o ...

, promoting to the third division in his first year and playing two full seasons with the first team overall. After one year in amateur football he went straight to 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, ...

for 1994–95, with F.C. Tirsense, but his league input consisted of 24 minutes of action. In the summer of 1995, Cabral returned to the third level with

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese football club based in Vizela, Braga District. Founded in 1939, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal Bwin, holding home games at the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Vizela, with a capacity for 6,100 spect ...

. Subsequently, as first-choice, he spent three seasons in division two with Tirsense,

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

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 ...

, appearing in 31 matches for the latter club (one goal) in the 1998–99 campaign as it achieved top-flight promotion. Cabral continued to be an undisputed starter with the

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 ...

side in the following two seasons, which attracted the attention of neighbouring

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. He played 13 league games in his first year but soon fell out of favour, returning to Belenenses for a further year where he featured sparingly due to injuries, and retiring in June 2005 at the age of 33.

International career

On 15 November 2000, Cabral earned his first – and only –

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Carlos Secretário Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Secretário (born 12 May 1970) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played mainly as a right-back, currently a manager. In a 17-year career, in which he appeared in 341 Primeira Liga games and scored 12 ...

for the final ten minutes of a 2–1 friendly win over

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Paulo 1972 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players SC Vianense players G.D. Joane players F.C. Tirsense players F.C. Vizela players C.D. Aves players C.F. Os Belenenses players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players Portugal men's international footballers Footballers from Viana do Castelo District