Valmiro Lopes Rocha (born 23 April 1981), known as Valdo, is a former Cape Verdean 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 ...

who played mainly as a winger. Valdo had played for several clubs in

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' ...

during his professional career, notably

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

and Levante. Over 12 seasons in the competition, he appeared in 258 matches and scored 34 goals.

Early years

Valdo was born in

Villablino Villablino (; Leonese: ''Vitsablinu'') is a municipality located in the Laciana comarca of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2011 Census, the municipality had a population of 10,35 ...

, León, in the region of

Laciana Laciana, ''Tsaciana'' in Leonese language, is a comarca in the province of León, Spain. It had 11,904 inhabitants in 2005. The rivers of this comarca flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. Local people speak a certain variant of the Leonese language ...

, where his parents had moved after migrating from Cape Verde to work in the coal mines. He started playing football with the amateur side

CF Pozuelo de Alarcón Club de Fútbol Pozuelo de Alarcón is a football team based in Pozuelo de Alarcón in the autonomous Community of Madrid. Founded in 1995, the team plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 7. The club's home ground is '' Estadio Valle de las C ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and stayed there for the following seven years.

Club career

Real Madrid / Osasuna

In 2001, Real Madrid signed him for its reserve teams. He played in 2001–02 with Real Madrid Castilla and, also during that season, received first-team opportunities in

, 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 footb ...

and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, with the ''Merengues'' eventually winning the latter competition. In January 2003, Valdo moved to the league club

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El S ...

, first on loan, where he developed as a top division player, scoring five goals in 35 games in his first full season. On 11 April 2004, he scored in a 3–0 away win against his former club. In the 2005–06 season, although he featured much less mainly due to a

groin In human anatomy, the groin (the adjective is ''inguinal'', as in inguinal canal) is the junctional area (also known as the inguinal region) between the abdomen and the thigh on either side of the pubic bone. This is also known as the medial comp ...

ailment, Valdo scored in a 2–1 home victory over

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

on 12 March 2006, as Osasuna qualified for the first time for the Champions League qualifying rounds. After the demotion 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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, he helped the team reach the last-four against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

, scoring twice in ten matches.

Espanyol

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

signed Valdo at the end of 2006–07 to a four-year deal. He played his first game for the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

-based side against CF Peralada during the pre-season. On 14 July 2009, after having appeared sparingly, Valdo moved to Málaga CF in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

-long loan. After being dropped from the squad for several months due to his bad performances, he was brought back on 27 February 2010; he scored his first goal for the club against Barcelona on the same day, but Málaga lost 1–2 away at Camp Nou.

Levante

On 13 August 2010, Valdo left Espanyol and signed with Levante UD, reuniting with his Málaga teammates Gustavo Munúa and Xavi Torres. He contributed heavily during his first season – 2,119 minutes, 25 starts – as Levante retained their top-flight status, scoring against Getafe CF in a 2–0 home win and

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

for a 1–0 away victory. Valdo was even more important in 2011–12 and scored on six occasions as Levante qualified for the Europa League for the first time ever after finishing sixth. Two of those goals near the end of the season, in home defeats of Atlético Madrid (2–0) and

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

(3–1).

Later career

After leaving Levante, Valdo rarely settled with a club, playing in quick succession with

Asteras Tripoli Asteras Tripolis Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Αστέρας Τρίπολης), commonly referred to as Asteras Tripolis (meaning "Star of Tripoli"), is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, G ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

of Spain and

Atlético de Kolkata ATK (formerly Atlético de Kolkata) was an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competed in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football and were the league champions during the inaugural ...

of the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

. On 1 September 2016, he returned to Spain to sign for

CD Lealtad Club Deportivo Lealtad de Villaviciosa (English: Loyalty Sporting Club of Villaviciosa) is a Spanish football team based in Villaviciosa, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1916, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 2 ...

International career

Valdo played for the Spanish under-21s in the early 2000s. In late August 2011, aged 30, he was called up by the Cape Verde national team for a match against

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

on 3 September, for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualificatiers, and made his debut in the 0–3 away loss.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdo 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of León Spanish people of Cape Verdean descent Citizens of Cape Verde through descent Spanish footballers Cape Verdean men's footballers Footballers from Castile and León Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players CA Osasuna players RCD Espanyol footballers Málaga CF players Levante UD footballers Racing de Santander players CD Lealtad players CD Izarra footballers Liga MX players Atlante F.C. footballers Super League Greece players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Indian Super League players ATK (football club) players UEFA Champions League winning players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Cape Verde men's international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Cape Verdean expatriate footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Peña Sport FC footballers