Sérgio Eduardo Ferreira da Cunha (born 15 October 1972 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

), known as Serginho, is a Brazilian retired

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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Club career

After playing in his country mostly for modest clubs – he represented

Associação Atlética Portuguesa (RJ) Associação Atlética Portuguesa, also known as Portuguesa Carioca, Portuguesa do Rio or Portuguesa da Ilha, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Governador Island, Rio de Janeiro. The team plays in Série D, the four ...

Olaria Atlético Clube Olaria Atlético Clube, usually abbreviated to Olaria, is a Brazilian football club established in 1915, since expanded into other sports. Mostly know for its Brazilian football team based in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the neighbourhood ...

, América Football Club,

Vitória Futebol Clube (ES) Vitória Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Vitória, is a Brazilian professional club based in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Vitória, Espírito Santo founded on 1 October 1912. It competes in the Campeonato Capixaba, the top flight of the Esp ...

– Serginho moved at almost 22 to

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 ...

with

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

, being an instrumental part in the

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

side's rise from

the third is a light novel series, that has also been made into manga and anime series by Ryo Hoshino and illustrated by Ariko Ito. The anime series goes under the name . According to the New York Comic Convention, ''The Third'' has been licensed by ...

and second divisions, eventually consolidating 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, ...

. In 2003–04, already slowing down, Serginho still scored two goals in 19 games as Nacional qualified for the first time ever to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. He then moved to the lower leagues both in his country (

Esporte Clube Juventude Esporte Clube Juventude, also known as Juventude, is a Brazilian football team in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul. The club currently competes in the top tier of Brazilian football, the Série A, as well as in Campeonato Gaúcho Série ...

Universidade Estácio de Sá Futebol Clube Imperial Futebol Clube, commonly known as Imperial, is a Brazilian football team from the city of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro state, founded on April 2, 2004. The club was formerly known as Universidade Estácio de Sá Futebol Clube and as E ...

) and Portugal (

C.F. União Clube de Futebol União, commonly known as União or União da Madeira, was a Portuguese association football, football club based in Funchal, Madeira, notable for its six appearances in the Portuguese top-flight Primeira Liga, between the 1989� ...

and

U.D. Santana União Desportiva de Santana, known as Santana, is a Portuguese football club from Santana, Madeira. Founded in 1981, it currently holds home games at ''Manuel Marques da Trindade'', with a capacity of 3,000 seats. Santana was first promoted to ...

), before retiring in 2007 at the age of 35; he was Nacional's all-time top scorer, having netted well over 100 times in competitive matches.

International career

Serginho represented Brazil's under-20s at the

1991 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship was the eighth staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, an international football competition organized by FIFA for men's youth national teams, and the eighth since it was established in 1977 as the FIFA ...

in Portugal, but appeared only once for the eventual losing finalists, featuring 15 minutes in the 5–1 quarter-final win against South Korea.

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Serginho 1972 births Living people Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian footballers Association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Associação Atlética Portuguesa (RJ) players Olaria Atlético Clube players America Football Club (RJ) players Vitória Futebol Clube (ES) players Esporte Clube Juventude players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players C.D. Nacional players C.F. União players Saudi First Division League players Al-Shoulla FC players Brazil under-20 international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Saudi Professional League players