Paulo Sérgio Braga Madeira (born 6 September 1970) 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 ...

who played as a

central defender 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 ...

Club career

Madeira was born in

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

Portuguese Angola Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa). I ...

. A youth graduate of

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 made his first-team debut in 1989–90 and, after serving a loan with fellow

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, ...

club

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Lig ...

, returned for another season. After excellent displays with

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 ...

neighbours

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 ...

, Madeira was bought back by Benfica, but failed to appear regularly in his second spell with his '' alma mater'' (five years), which included a demotion to the reserves. He retired at almost 34 after brief stints with

Fluminense FC Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, ...

and C.F. Estrela da Amadora, with the campaign ending in relegation; over the course of 13 seasons, he amassed top-division (the only competition he appeared in in his country) totals of 291 games and 12 goals.

International career

At international level, Madeira was part of the Portugal senior team that participated at

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, although he did not leave the bench. In total, he earned 25

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and scored three goals in eight years. Previously, Madeira was instrumental in helping the under-20 side to the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, playing all the matches.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Madeira, Paulo 1970 births Living people Angolan people of Portuguese descent Footballers from Luanda Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers C.S. Marítimo players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Fluminense FC players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers UEFA Euro 1996 players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Brazil