Alves Nilo Marcos Lima Fortes (born 6 November 1966), commonly known as Vinha, is a Cape Verdean retired
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
centre forward.
Football career
Born in
Praia, Vinha arrived in
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 ...
and nearly 22, starting with lowly
Atlético Clube de Portugal. After two seasons he moved to the
Primeira Liga with
S.C. Salgueiros, being an important attacking unit in the
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
side's domestic consolidation.
Vinha's solid performances attracted attention from local
FC Porto, and soon after a callup – which did not materialize – to the
Portugal national team. During
his sole season he featured little, but still managed to contribute with four league goals
[F.C. Porto-Benfica: por onde andam as figuras acidentais? (F.C. Porto-Benfica: what happened to accidental heroes?)](_blank)
Mais Futebol, 27 October 2006 (in Portuguese) as the club finished second to
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 ...
and won 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 ...
; previously, in the
Portuguese Supercup that opened the new campaign, he netted against the same rival in an eventual aggregate triumph (he also scored against Benfica in the league opener, with a trademark header).
In the 1994 summer, Vinha returned to Salgueiros for a further four seasons, always in the top division. After failing to score in
his last year, from 20 games, he moved to the lower leagues after a brief spell in the
second level with
F.C. Paços de Ferreira
Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...
, retiring in 2001 at
F.C. Tirsense.
Vinha faded into obscurity upon retiring, also working as a stand employee at ''Exponor'', a cultural exposition and forum center in
Leça da Palmeira.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinha
1966 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Praia
Cape Verdean footballers
Association football forwards
Primeira Liga players
Liga Portugal 2 players
Segunda Divisão players
Atlético Clube de Portugal players
S.C. Salgueiros players
FC Porto players
F.C. Paços de Ferreira players
A.D. Lousada players
Imortal D.C. players
F.C. Tirsense players
Cape Verdean expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Portugal
Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal