Ricardo Jorge Ferreira Pinto da Silva (born 19 August 1980), known simply as Ricardo, is a

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

an 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 a

centre 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 ...

and

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 ...

Club career

Ricardo was born in Azurém,

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

, Portugal, and started playing football with amateurs Centro de Cultura e Desporto Desportivo de Ronfe and G.D. Serzedelo. In the following three years he competed in the third division, representing

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

(one season) and

S.C. Freamunde Sport Clube Freamunde is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Freamunde, Paços de Ferreira. Founded on 19 March 1933, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at ...

(two). In the summer of 2004, Ricardo moved 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, ...

, signing with

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

. He featured in 29 games in his first season (24 starts), but suffered relegation; he continued to appear regularly for the Aveiro team during his spell, spending two seasons apiece in each of Portugal's major levels. Ricardo returned to the top flight for 2008–09, joining

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

. In the following campaign's first round he scored with his head to earn his side a point against

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 ...

in a 1–1 home draw, and was an ever-present defensive figure in his two-year stint. In June 2010, Ricardo signed with

Vitória de Guimarães 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 ...

also of the top tier – he had been brought up as a youth at the Minho club. In January 2012, after a brief spell in China, he returned to Portugal and Paços on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

International career

Although born in Portugal, Ricardo opted to represent

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

through ancestry. He received his first call-up in May 2008, first appearing on 27 May in a friendly with

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. In June 2010, Ricardo started in the 0–0 draw that the minnows (ranked 117th) managed against

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 ...

, as the Europeans were preparing for that year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricardo 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Guimarães Portuguese people of Cape Verdean descent Cape Verdean footballers Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players G.D. Serzedelo players F.C. Famalicão players S.C. Freamunde players S.C. Beira-Mar players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Vitória S.C. players C.D. Feirense players Chinese Super League players Shandong Taishan F.C. players Cape Verde international footballers Cape Verdean expatriate footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in China Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in China