Rui Orlando Ribeiro Santos Neto (born 24 October 1979), known as Orlando, is a Portuguese former

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

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 ...

. He appeared in at least 100 matches in each of the three major levels of Portuguese football in a 19-year professional career, including 124 in 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, ...

(where he represented

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

and Académica and scored five goals).

Club career

Born in

Santo Tirso Santo Tirso () is a city and municipality located in the north of Porto Metropolitan Area, 25 km from central Porto, Portugal. In the region, the Ave Valley, there is a large center of textile industry. The population in 2011 was 71,530, in ...

Porto District The District of Porto ( pt, Distrito do Porto ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro and Viseu districts to the south, Br ...

, Orlando started his career with

AD Fafe Associação Desportiva de Fafe (abbreviated as AD Fafe) is a Portuguese football club based in Fafe in the district of Braga in northern Portugal. Background AD Fafe currently plays in the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores – Série A whi ...

in the third division in 1998, moving on to

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

after three years. Under the guidance of Manuel Machado, he was an important defensive member of a side that promoted to the

– the season prior to the player's arrival, the club was also in the third tier. In 2006, Orlando returned to division three with

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 ...

. After a good

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, he was signed by Académica de Coimbra, being an undisputed starter from his debut onwards. In 2008–09 he scored in both matches against

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 ...

(2–1 win at home, 1–1 away), and continued to be first-choice in the following top-flight campaigns, also being named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Orlando spent the better part of

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

and 2011–12 on the sidelines, nursing an injury. In the first game upon his return, on 15 January 2012, he had to be stretchered off in the early minutes of the home fixture against

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 (b ...

, in an eventual 0–2 loss; after surgery, he remained inactive for nearly one year. In the summer of 2012, after five seasons with the ''Briosa'', Orlando parted ways with the club. In January of the following year he agreed on a return to Freamunde, who now competed now in the Segunda Liga. Following Freamunde's relegation, Orlando signed for

FC Felgueiras Futebol Clube de Felgueiras was a Portuguese football club from Felgueiras. The club was founded on 16 August 1936 and ended in 2005 due to financial problems. The club played at the Estádio Dr. Machado de Matos which was their home since the ...

on a one-year deal.Orlando é reforço do FC Felgueiras (Orlando is a FC Felgueiras addition)
Notícias FC Felgueiras, 6 July 2013 (in Portuguese)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Orlando Neto 1979 births Living people People from Santo Tirso Sportspeople from Porto District Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players AD Fafe players Moreirense F.C. players S.C. Freamunde players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players F.C. Felgueiras 1932 players Leixões S.C. players