António Manuel Viana Mendonça (born 9 October 1982) is an Angolan 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 le ...

who played as a

right winger 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

, Mendonça moved to

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 ...

in January 2000 at only 17, signing with

Varzim S.C. Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football team based in Póvoa de Varzim, near Porto in the north of the country. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since it was founded. The club pl ...

in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, and scored ten goals in 30 games in his first full season to help to

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, ...

promotion. He appeared in 28 matches in the following campaign (18 starts, two goals), with the Póvoa do Varzim side retaining their league status. From 2003 to 2007, after a brief loan, Mendonça appeared regularly for Varzim, with the club again in the second level. He returned to the top flight in 2007–08, but played in only 14 games 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 ...

and C.F. Estrela da Amadora combined, which prompted a return to his previous team, still in division two; whilst with Varzim, on 10 February 2007, he scored the 2–1 home winner that ousted giants

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

from 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 seaso ...

. In the 2009 offseason, Mendonça returned to his country and signed with

G.D. Interclube Grupo Desportivo Interclube, usually known as Interclube or Inter de Luanda, is an Angolan football club based in Luanda. The club is attached to the Angolan police force. Interclube is one of the two clubs based in Luanda (the other one is 1º d ...

. The following year he joined C.D. Primeiro de Agosto, his first club as a senior.

International career

Mendonça made his debut for

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

in April 1999, before his 17th birthday. He was chosen the best player at the

2001 African Youth Championship The African Youth Championship 2001 was held in Ethiopia. It also served as qualification for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. Qualification Preliminary round Eritrea and Guinea Bissau withdrew. As a result, Kenya and Gambia advanced to t ...

. Mendonça was picked for the squad that appeared at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, a first-ever for the country. He played in all three group stage games – 270 minutes – as the ''Palancas Negras'' managed two points; additionally, he participated in two

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

tournaments.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Angola's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendonca, Antonio 1982 births Living people Footballers from Luanda Angolan footballers Association football wingers Girabola players C.D. Primeiro de Agosto players G.D. Interclube players F.C. Bravos do Maquis players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Varzim S.C. players G.D. Chaves players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Angola international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players Angolan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal