Sérgio Paulo Vieira Pinto (born 8 January 1973) is a Portuguese retired 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

right midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

After unsuccessfully emerging through local

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

's youth system,

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

-born Pinto played almost exclusively in the lower leagues of his country, representing

Ermesinde SC Ermesinde Sport Clube was a Portuguese sports club from Ermesinde. The men's football team had two stints in the third-tier Segunda Divisão B; from 1991 to 1994 and 1998 to 2004. Later they were also relegated from the 2006–07 Terceira Divisã ...

F.C. Marco Futebol Clube do Marco was a Portuguese football team based in Marco de Canaveses, Porto District. Founded in 1927, it held home games at ''Estádio Municipal de Marco de Canaveses'', which has a 10,000-seat capacity. History Futebol Clube do Mar ...

Gondomar SC Gondomar Sport Club is a Portuguese football club based in Gondomar, Porto District. Founded on 1 May 1921, it currently plays in the fourth-tier Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio de São Miguel'', with a capacity of 2.4 ...

C.D. Fátima Centro Desportivo de Fátima, simply known as Fátima, is a Portuguese football club based in Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém. Founded in 1966, it holds home matches at ''Estádio Papa Francisco'', with a capacity of 1,545 spectators. Clu ...

S.C. Lamego Sporting Clube de Lamego ''(abbreviated as SC Lamego)'' is a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football club based in Lamego in the district of Viseu. Background SC Lamego currently plays in the Terceira Divisão Série B which is the ...

C.D. Portosantense Clube Desportivo Portosantense, simply Portosantense, is a Portuguese football based in Porto Santo, Madeira. Founded in 1948, it currently plays in the Terceira Divisão The Terceira Divisão Portuguesa (in English: ''Portuguese Third Divisi ...

, Leça FC,

F.C. Maia Futebol Clube da Maia is a Portuguese football club based in Maia, Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto. Founded on 4 April 1954, it currently plays in the Porto Regional League, holding home matches at the Estádio Professor Doutor Vieira de Carv ...

F.C. 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 c ...

and

F.C. Lixa Futebol Clube da Lixa known as FC Lixa is a Portuguese football club from Lixa which was founded in 1934. They currently play in the Portuguese Second Division, Portuguese Second Division Serie A and last season they finished 14th place 2007/08. ...

. From 1999 to December 2004 he made 143 Segunda Liga appearances, scoring ten goals. In a 13-year senior career, Pinto also played one season with

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

club

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, featuring in less than half of the matches as the

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

side finished just one place above the relegation zone. He retired in June 2005, aged 32.

Personal life

Pinto's older brother,

João João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below. Kings * ...

, was also a footballer. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, he played with team and individual success for S.L. Benfica and Sporting CP, also winning more than 80 caps for the Portugal national team. His nephew, Tiago, notably represented

Rio Ave F.C. Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlanti ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Sergio 1973 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Porto Men's association football midfielders Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Ermesinde S.C. players F.C. Marco players Gondomar S.C. players C.D. Fátima players S.C. Lamego players Leça F.C. players F.C. Maia players F.C. Felgueiras players F.C. Lixa players English Football League players Bradford City A.F.C. players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England