Paulo Sérgio Cardoso da Costa (born 5 December 1979) is a Portuguese footballer who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. After playing professionally in Portugal, Italy, France and Greece, he finally moved to Cyprus in his mid-20s, spending his remaining career there. He scored once from 42

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 over the course of three seasons, representing Alverca,

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 ...

and

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

in the competition.

Club career

Born in

Moita Moita () is a municipality in the district of Setúbal in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 66,029, in an area of 55.26 km2. The municipality is part of the Greater Lisbon Area, with a demographic rate of 1.194,9/km2 in 2011, growing from ...

Setúbal District The District of Setúbal ( pt, Distrito de Setúbal ) is a district located in the south-west of Portugal. It is named for its capital, the city of Setúbal. Geography It is delimited by Lisbon District and Santarém District on the north, Év ...

, Costa began playing as a senior at

Sporting Clube Lourinhanense Sporting Clube Lourinhanense, simply Lourinhanense, is a Portuguese football club based in Lourinhã, Lisbon. It currently plays in the Regional Championships, and holds home games at ''Estádio Municipal da Lourinhã'', with a capacity of 2,0 ...

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. In 1999 he joined

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 ...

, rejoining another youth product of the

powerhouse,

Marco Caneira Marco António Simões Caneira (born 9 February 1979) is a Portuguese former professional footballer. Preferably a central defender, he was equally at ease on the right or left flank. A youth graduate at Sporting CP, he started his career at t ...

. In June 2000, both Costa and Caneira signed with

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, who bought the pair in a co-ownership deal with

Reggina Calcio Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are ni ...

. Costa was sold 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 ...

2 millionFC Internazionale Milano SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2001
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
(in Italian) and, in June 2001, Reggina acquired him outright for €1,3 million and Inter bought back Caneira for an undisclosed fee; however, in July Costa was bought back from Reggina for €1,6 millionFC Internazionale Milano SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2002
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
(in Italian) and, in a continuing series of unassuming loans, then played with

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 ...

(which also acquired 50% registration rights for €1,5 million), A.C. Venezia and

FC Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde (de ...

, rejoining former teammate Caneira in the latter (with the first and third clubs, he was often demoted to the reserves); he returned to Portugal for the 2004–05 season, joining Gil Vicente FC. Costa joined

Aris Thessaloniki F.C. Aris FC ( el, ΠΑΕ Άρης), commonly known as Aris Thessaloniki FC, AFC or simply Aris, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1914 as ''Aris Thessaloniki Football Club'', t ...

from Greece in January 2006, with his new club starting the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

season in poor fashion but improving their game and results under

Nikos Anastopoulos Nikos Anastopoulos ( el, Νίκος Αναστόπουλος; born 22 January 1958) is a Greek former footballer who was one the most prolific strikers in the Greek league during the 1980s and widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the ...

and eventually returning to the Superleague, with the player contributing with 13 games; the following campaign he scored a career-best seven goals, with Aris overachieving for a final fourth place as he formed a successful offensive partnership with Koke. In August 2007, Costa started a

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

adventure, as many Portuguese players in that timeframe years, by joining

Aris Limassol FC Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadium ...

. On 3 January 2008 he signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with another side in the country,

Anorthosis Famagusta FC Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

. On 28 December 2008, continuing in Cyprus, Costa signed a six-month contract with

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

, but had it mutually rescinded on 13 March of the following year. In August 2009 he returned to Greece and penned a two-year deal with

Levadiakos FC Levadiakos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Λεβαδειακός) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, af ...

, leaving the club in January 2010 and moving back to Cyprus, signing for one-and-a-half-years with domestic cup holders

APOP Kinyras FC APOP Kinyras FC ( el, ΑΠΟΠ, Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Ομιλος Πέγειας Κινύρας, ''Athlitikos Podosfairikos Omilos Pegeias Kinyras'', "Athletic Football Club Peyia Kinyras") was a Cypriot football club fr ...

. Costa moved to

Ermis Aradippou Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Second Division. Ermis' greatest success came ...

for 2010–11, but was released shortly after. He finished the season with another team in the country, former club Aris Limassol, netting four goals as they returned to the top flight after one year.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Paulo 1979 births Living people People from Moita Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Alverca players FC Porto players FC Porto B players Gil Vicente F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Reggina 1914 players Inter Milan players Venezia F.C. players Ligue 1 players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Levadiakos F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Cypriot Second Division players Aris Limassol FC players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players APOEL FC players APOP Kinyras FC players Ermis Aradippou FC players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Sportspeople from Setúbal District