Ianique dos Santos Tavares (born 20 May 1988), commonly known as Stopira, is a

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

an 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 plays for Hungarian club

Fehérvár FC Fehérvár Football Club (commonly known as ''Fehérvár'', ''Vidi'', or ''MOL Fehérvár Football Club'' for sponsorship reasons), is a Hungarian professional football club based in Székesfehérvár, which plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the ...

as a

left-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

Stopira was born in

Praia Praia (, Portuguese language, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.

. In 2008, he signed for Portugal's

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

from local

Sporting Clube da Praia Sporting Clube da Praia, short form: Sporting Praia ( Capeverdean Crioulo, ALUPEC or ALUPEK as well as Badiu: ''Sporting Klubi di Praia'') is a professional football club that plays in the Santiago South Premier Division in Cape Verde. It is bas ...

, playing just six matches in his first season but being first choice in

the following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The first season follows former FBI agent Ryan Hardy ( Kevin Bacon) ...

, as the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

team competed in the Segunda Liga. On 10 July 2010, after a thwarted transfer to

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, ...

club

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 ...

, Stopira signed a four-year contract with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

in Spain, with 75% of his right being owned by IberSports. He spent his only season, however, with the reserves in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

. Stopira joined newly-promoted C.D. Feirense ahead of the 2011–12 campaign, on a one-year deal. He made his debut in the Portuguese top flight on 20 August 2011, coming on as a late substitute in a 3–1 away loss against

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. In the summer of 2012, moved to

Videoton FC Videoton may refer to: *Videoton (company), Hungarian electronics company *Fehérvár FC, formerly known as Videoton FC, Hungarian football club See also *Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable t ...

in Hungary. He remained there until his retirement, notably winning the 2014–15 and 2017–18 editions of the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

International career

Stopira received his first call-up to the Cape Verde national team in May 2008, for 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 ...

and a

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. He was an unused substitute in the first two qualifying matches, and made his competitive debut against

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

on 22 June of that year, replacing

Nando Nando (from "News and Observer") was an American internet news service and Internet service provider (ISP), founded in 1993 by the publishers of ''The News & Observer'' newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina. Initially it relied on access via bullet ...

in the dying minutes. On 24 May 2010, Stopira appeared in a friendly in

Covilhã Covilhã () is a city and a municipality in the Centro region, Portugal. The city proper had 34,772 inhabitants in 2001. The municipality population in 2011 was 51,797, in an area of . It is located in the Beiras e Serra da Estrela subregion and B ...

with

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 ...

– who were preparing for the

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 ...

in South Africa – playing the entire match as the minnows (ranked 117th) managed a 0–0 draw. He also won the

2009 Lusofonia Games The 2009 Lusophony Games was the 2nd Lusophony Games ( pt, 2.os Jogos da Lusofonia), a multi-sport event for delegations representing Portuguese-speaking National Olympic committees. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 11 to 19 July 2009. The ...

with the under-21 team.

Personal life

Stopyra received his nickname in honour of former French international

Yannick Stopyra Yannick Stopyra (born 9 January 1961) is a French former footballer who played as a striker. He amassed Ligue 1 totals of 455 matches and 130 goals in representation of six teams, mainly Sochaux and Toulouse, in a 17-year professional career. ...

. In December 2019, he acquired Hungarian citizenship via

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Career statistics

Club

International goals

''Cape Verde score listed first, score column indicates score after each Stopira goal.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stopira 1988 births Living people Naturalized citizens of Hungary Sportspeople from Praia Cape Verdean footballers Association football defenders Sporting Clube da Praia players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Santa Clara players C.D. Feirense players Segunda División B players Deportivo Fabril players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Fehérvár FC players Cape Verde international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Cape Verdean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Hungary Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Hungary