Tiago Venâncio Alves Pires (born 20 October 1991), known as Tiago Portuga or simply Tiago, is a Portuguese 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 as a left-back for Andorran club

UE Santa Coloma Unió Esportiva Santa Coloma, also known as UE Santa Coloma, is a football club from Andorra based in the village of Santa Coloma, Andorra la Vella. The club currently plays in Primera Divisió. History UE Santa Coloma was founded on 23 Septe ...

Club career

Brazil

Born in Braga,

Minho Province Minho () was a former province in Portugal, established in 1936 and dissolved in 1976. It consisted of 23 municipalities, with its capital in the city of Braga. Today, the area would include the districts of Braga and Viana do Castelo. Minho has ...

, Portuga started his senior career in Brazil after moving to that country at 8 months of age. He competed solely in the lower leagues or amateur football during his spell there, being part of Grêmio Barueri Futebol's Série B roster in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

but failing to appear in any matches.

Portugal

Portuga returned to his homeland midway through 2013–14, signing a short-term contract with Segunda Liga club

C.D. Trofense Clube Desportivo Trofense (), commonly known as Trofense, is a Portuguese football club based in Trofa, Portugal. Founded in 1930, it plays in Segunda Liga, holding home games at '' Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense'', with a capacity of 5,0 ...

. He made his professional debut on 16 February, starting and being replaced after 61 minutes of the 1–3 home loss against

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

. He played 18 games in his only full season, which ended in relegation. For the 2015–16 campaign, Portuga joined

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 ...

side

AD Oliveirense Associação Desportiva Oliveirense is a Portuguese sports club from Santa Maria de Oliveira, Vila Nova de Famalicão. The men's football team played several years on the third tier, and was supposed to contest the 2020–21 Campeonato de Portu ...

Spain

Portuga moved to Spain in the summer of 2016, representing in quick succession

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 ...

teams

CF Rayo Majadahonda Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish football team based in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at ''Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with ...

, CCD Cerceda,

CD Ebro Club Deportivo Ebro is a Spanish football club in Zaragoza, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1942, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at '' Campo Municipal de Fútbol La Almozara'', which has a cap ...

and

CD El Ejido Club Polideportivo El Ejido 1969 is a Spanish football club based in El Ejido, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1989 under the name of El Ejido Fútbol Sala (was only a futsal club until 2012), it currently plays in Segunda D ...

. On 30 October 2018, he was sent off midway through the first half of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

tie against Valencia CF at

La Romareda Estadio La Romareda is the home stadium of Real Zaragoza, in Zaragoza. It was inaugurated on 8 September 1957, with a game between Real Zaragoza and CA Osasuna (4–3). The official capacity is 33,608, with an average attendance of around 20,000 ...

, but the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club could only win 2–1 eventually.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Portuga, Tiago 1991 births Living people Footballers from Braga Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Grêmio Barueri Futebol players Esporte Clube São Bento players Associação Esportiva Santacruzense players Esporte Clube Rio Verde players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players C.D. Trofense players AD Oliveirense players Segunda División B players CF Rayo Majadahonda players CCD Cerceda players CD Ebro players CD El Ejido players Primera Divisió players UE Santa Coloma players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Andorra Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Andorra