Vasco Manuel Vilhena Faísca Teixeira (born 27 August 1980), known as Faísca, is a Portuguese 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 le ...

who played as a defender, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Italy after starting out at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

, representing in the country

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

and

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

and appearing in one

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

match with the first club.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Faísca was a product of

's youth system. In the summer of 2000 he was signed by

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

alongside teammates

Marco Caneira Marco António Simões Caneira (born 9 February 1979) is a Portuguese former professional footballer. Preferably a central defender, he was equally at ease on the right or left flank. A youth graduate at Sporting CP, he started his career at t ...

and

Paulo Costa Paulo Henrique Costa (born 21 April 1991) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of August 1, 2022, he is #6 in the UFC middleweight ...

, in co-ownership with other clubs; he was sold to

Vicenza Calcio L.R. Vicenza, commonly referred to as Vicenza, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. Founded in 1902 as Associazione del Calcio in Vicenza, they became Lanerossi Vicenza in 1953, then Vicenza Calcio from 1990 ...

for 1,200 million lire (€619,748). Faísca stayed in Italy and played with

for four seasons – one game in

in 2000–01, the rest of his spell in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

– before his rights were acquired fully in June 2004. Shortly after, however, he returned to Portugal and joined Académica de Coimbra, making his

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, ...

debut and being first choice (only two matches missed) as the ''Students'' narrowly avoided relegation. In the 2005 off-season, Faísca signed for

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

, being fairly used in his first year but being deemed surplus to requirements soon afterwards. He returned to Italy in January 2007, joining

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

team

Calcio Padova Calcio Padova, commonly referred to as Padova, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Padua, Veneto. Founded in 1910, Padova currently play in , having last been in Serie A in 1996. The team's official colours are white and red. ...

and winning promotion in his second full campaign. On 31 August 2010, Faísca moved to second-tier

Ascoli Calcio 1898 Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C., commonly referred to as Ascoli, is an Italian football club based in Ascoli Piceno, Marche. The club was formed in 1898 and currently plays in Serie B. The team traditionally play in vertical black and white stripes. H ...

as part of the deal that involved

Jonas Portin Jonas Lennart Portin (born 30 September 1986) is a Finnish former footballer who played as a defender. Portin had represented Ascoli and Padova of Serie B, the second-tier league of football in Italy. Club career Jaro Portin started his seni ...

. He suffered relegation at the end of

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, terminating his contract which still had another year running. Until his retirement at the age of 37, and save for one year in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

with Platanias FC, Faísca competed in the Italian lower leagues, where he represented S.S. Matera Calcio,

S.S. Maceratese 1922 Società Sportiva Maceratese S.r.l. (formerly Associazione Calcio Maceratese S.r.l. and Fulgor Maceratese S.r.l.) was an Italian football club located in Macerata in the Marche region. The club folded in 2017. Since 2018, another club, S.S. Ma ...

and

Virtus Francavilla Calcio Virtus Francavilla Calcio, commonly known as Virtus Francavilla, is an Italian football club based in Francavilla Fontana, Apulia. They currently play in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football. History The historic Francavilla Calcio Th ...

International

Faísca appeared for the Portugal under-21 team at the 2002 UEFA European Championship in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, playing all group games as starter as the nation exited in that stage.

Coaching career

After a spell with

SC Vianense Sport Clube Vianense ''(abbreviated as SC Vianense)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Viana do Castelo in the district of Viana do Castelo. SC Vianense currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal. The club was founded in 1898 and is o ...

's youths, Faísca started his senior managerial career as an assistant at

U.D. Vilafranquense União Desportiva Vilafranquense is a Portuguese football club from Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon District. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of the Portuguese football league system, following its promotion in 2019. The oth ...

. On 5 February 2019, was named head coach of

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

in the third tier, and lost 1–0 on his debut away to Real S.C. five days later. On 27 December 2019, Faísca was confirmed at

S.C. Braga B Sporting Clube de Braga B, commonly known as Sporting de Braga B or just Braga B, is a Portuguese association football, football team. It is the reserve team of S.C. Braga. Reserve teams in Portugal play in the same league system as the senior te ...

, second-placed in the same league, on a deal until the summer of 2022; he replaced

Rúben Amorim Rúben Filipe Marques Amorim (; born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Primeira Liga club Sporting CP. Amorim played in his career as a midfielder, spending most of ...

, who was promoted to the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

. He left a year early for

F.C. Alverca Futebol Clube de Alverca is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Alverca do Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira. It currently plays in the Portuguese 3rd Division. History F.C. Alverca was founded on 1 September 1939. After many ...

, where he won two and lost three of six games before exiting by mutual consent on 4 October 2021. Faísca returned to the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

on 22 December 2021, signing with

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

who were second from bottom. His

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

debut came the following 17 January in a 1–0 home loss to

Leixões SC The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club The Port of Leixões ( pt, P ...

; in April, with the side safe from relegation, he signed for another season with a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

of €1.5 million. On 3 February 2023, Faísca was dismissed by Farense after failing to reach an agreement to leave, despite his team being in second place. His exit was announced one hour before the match against C.F. Estrela da Amadora, who were one point behind.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Faisca, Vasco 1980 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Académica de Coimbra (football) players C.F. Os Belenenses players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players LR Vicenza players Calcio Padova players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players SS Maceratese 1922 players Virtus Francavilla Calcio players Super League Greece players Platanias F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers S.C. Olhanense managers S.C. Farense managers