Valdo Cândido Filho (born 12 January 1964), simply known as Valdo, is a Brazilian 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 ...

who played as a

central 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 ...

, and a current manager of

Congo national football team The Congo national football team ( French: '' Équipe de football du Congo'') represents the Republic of the Congo in men's association football and is governed by the Congolese Football Federation. They have never qualified for the World Cup, ...

. In a senior career which spanned more than two decades, he played professionally – other than in his own country – in Portugal, France and Japan. Having appeared more than 40 times for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Valdo represented the nation in two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and as many Copa América tournaments.

Club career

Born in

Siderópolis Siderópolis is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina in the South region of Brazil. History Siderópolis ( Nova Belluno) is one of the first Italian settlements in Brazil. The arrival of Italian immigrants in the region is related to t ...

, Santa Catarina, Valdo began playing football with

Figueirense Futebol Clube Figueirense Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Figueirense, is a Brazilian professional club based in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina founded on 12 June 1921. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian f ...

, making his professional debuts with Grêmio Football Porto-Alegrense, with which he won four consecutive Rio Grande do Sul Leagues. In the summer of 1988 he signed with

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

of Portugal alongside compatriot Ricardo Gomes, 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 ...

. Both were important elements in their debut season as the team won the Primeira Liga championship, a feat which was again accomplished in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, with the midfielder netting five goals in 26 matches. Both Valdo and Gomes left for

Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As ...

in the 1991 summer, and both would return four years later to the Lisbon side, having won a total of four titles, including the 1993–94 edition of the Ligue 1. In his second Benfica spell, he played in 30 league matches in each of his two seasons, winning the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

in 1996. Aged 32, Valdo joined J1 League club Nagoya Grampus Eight, and returned to his country after two slow years. He would continue to play until the age of 40, representing six teams in quick succession (he ended his career after having helped Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas achieve its return to the Série A). Valdo began working as a manager in 2009, in Brazilian amateur football. Five years later, he rejoined his former Benfica boss Artur Jorge at

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger ( ar, نادي مولودية الجزائر), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home s ...

from Algeria.

International career

Valdo earned 45

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Brazil national team, during six years. Before having made his first appearance he was called to the 1986 FIFA World Cup squad, but did not play one single second. In the 1990 edition in Italy, Valdo was already a starter, and took part in the country's four matches in the tournament, including the round-of-16 1–0 loss against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Personal life

Upon retiring from football, Valdo settled in Portugal with his Portuguese wife. The couple had one daughter, Tatiele, who died in a car accident at only 13.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Grêmio *

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 Benfica * Primeira Liga: 1988–89, 1990–91 *

: 1995–96; Runner-up 1988–89, 1996–97 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

: 1989 * European Cup: Runner-up 1989–90 Paris Saint-Germain * Ligue 1: 1993–94 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 1992–93, 1994–95 * Coupe de la Ligue: 1994–95 Cruzeiro * Campeonato Mineiro: 1998 * Recopa Sudamericana: 1999 *

Copa Centro-Oeste Copa Centro-Oeste ( en, Center-West Cup) was a Brazilian football competition contested between Center-West region teams and teams from the Southeastern State Espírito Santo. For one edition, it was also contested by teams from Minas Gerais. ...

: 1999

International

Brazil * Copa América:

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

* Pan American Games: 1987 * Pre-Olympic tournament: 1987 *

Rous Cup The Rous Cup was a short-lived football competition in the second half of the 1980s, contested between England, Scotland and, in later years, a guest team from South America. Overview The Rous Cup arose from the ashes of the British Home Cha ...

: 1987

Individual

* Bola de Prata (Silver Ball): 1998

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdo 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Santa Catarina (state) Brazilian footballers Association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Figueirense FC players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Santos FC players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Esporte Clube Juventude players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Ligue 1 players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players J1 League players Nagoya Grampus players Brazil international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players Copa América-winning players Olympic footballers of Brazil Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games medalists in football Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Brazilian football managers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Footballers at the 1987 Pan American Games União Esporte Clube managers Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games