Ricardo Nuno dos Santos Nunes (born 18 June 1986) is a South African former professional
footballer who played as a
left-back.
Club career
The son of
Portuguese parents, Nunes was born in
Johannesburg,
South Africa, and moved to Portugal where he started practising the sport. He first appeared for
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 ...
, joining the club at the age of 12.
After emerging through
S.L. Benfica's youth system – he only played for
its reserves, spending the
2005–06 campaign in the
third division
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
– Nunes continued his senior career in the lower leagues of
Greece and
Cyprus. It was in Cyprus where he had his first taste of top-flight football, appearing in the
First Division for
AEP Paphos FC and
Olympiakos Nicosia.
On 31 January 2012, after one and a half seasons in the Portuguese
Segunda Liga,
[ Nunes signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with MŠK Žilina. In February 2014 he moved teams and countries again, joining Bulgaria's PFC Levski Sofia until June 2015.
Nunes signed for Pogoń Szczecin in the Polish Ekstraklasa on 16 September 2014, and made 153 competitive appearances over a six-year spell.
]
International career
Although Nunes was born in South Africa, he represented Portugal at under-17 level. This meant that he required permission from FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
before he could switch allegiance to South Africa, after he had spoken with Gordon Igesund.
In early October 2012, Nunes was named in the South Africa squad for friendlies
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
against Poland and Kenya. During this announcement, Igesund said that "Nunes is a very exciting player" and that he is "a specialist free kick taker". He made his debut on the 12th against Poland, a 1–0 loss in Warsaw.
Honours
Žilina
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Levski official profile
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Ricardo
1986 births
Living people
South African people of Portuguese descent
White South African people
Sportspeople of Portuguese descent
Portuguese men's footballers
South African men's soccer players
Soccer players from Johannesburg
Men's association football fullbacks
Liga Portugal 2 players
Segunda Divisão players
S.L. Benfica B players
C.D. Trofense players
Portimonense S.C. players
PAS Lamia 1964 players
Cypriot First Division players
Cypriot Second Division players
AEP Paphos FC players
Aris Limassol FC players
Olympiakos Nicosia players
Slovak First Football League players
MŠK Žilina players
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
PFC Levski Sofia players
Ekstraklasa players
III liga players
Pogoń Szczecin players
Portugal men's youth international footballers
South Africa men's international soccer players
Portuguese expatriate men's footballers
South African expatriate men's soccer players
Expatriate men's footballers in Greece
Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus
Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia
Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria
Expatriate men's footballers in Poland
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Poland
South African expatriate sportspeople in Greece
South African expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
South African expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia
South African expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria
South African expatriate sportspeople in Poland