António Pedro de Brito Lopes (born 23 July 1979), commonly known as Toni, is a Portuguese 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 le ...

who plays as a

right-back 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 ...

. After starting out professionally at

Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club wi ...

, he went on to represent Benfica and

Beira Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

in the

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, ...

, signing with the former in 2002. He also competed in Switzerland, Spain and Cyprus, spending eight seasons in the latter nation, mostly with

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

Club career

Born in

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

, Toni grew up in the neighbourhood of Bela Vista and started playing football at local Clube Desportivo Pelezinhos. He signed for neighbouring

Vitória F.C. Vitória Futebol Clube is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Setúbal. Popularly known as Vitória de Setúbal (), the club was born under the original name Sport Victoria from the ashes of the small Bonfim Foot-Ball Club. When it comes ...

at the age of 15, where he finished his formation. His beginnings as a senior were spent with

Lusitano G.C. Lusitano Ginásio Clube, MHC, also commonly known as Lusitano de Évora (abbrev. Lusit. Évora), is a Portuguese sports club based in Évora competing in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth-tier league in the Portuguese football system. F ...

in the fourth level, which he helped finish fourth in his first season and second in the following, with the subsequent promotion in the latter case. In July 2000, Toni moved to the

and joined

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 ...

. He made his debut in the competition on 29 October of that year, coming on as a second-half substitute and assisting for the second goal in a 2–1 away win against C.F. Estrela da Amadora. His performances soon attracted interest from S.C. Braga and

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 Euro ...

, and he was also linked with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

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 Fr ...

and West Ham United towards the start and during the off-season, but ultimately signed with S.L. Benfica on a reported free deal. However, it was soon discovered that Toni had signed with an investment firm, Premier Holding owned by Mike Walsh. They retained his international certificate and did not allowed him to play for Benfica until they received 650 thousand dollars. Only in January 2002, after

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

intervened, was he allowed to play, first in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

and then in the main squad, making his first and only appearance for the latter on the last matchday of the campaign and being sent off in the last minutes of a 2–3 away loss against

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

. In July 2002, both Toni and Diogo Luís joined fellow league club S.C. Beira-Mar as

Cristiano Roland Cristiano Rocha Canedo Roland (born 4 October 1976), known simply as Cristiano, is a retired Brazilian footballer who played as a left-back. He started at Grêmio and moved to Vasco da Gama in 1996, where he won the Brasileirão in 1997. In 1 ...

moved in the opposite direction. He was regularly used as a starter in his first season but, in 2003–04, he appeared much more sparingly after losing his place to Pedro Ribeiro. In the 2004 summer, aged 25, Toni moved abroad where he would remain until his retirement. His first stop was

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the S ...

in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, and the second

Zamora CF Zamora Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Zamora, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1968 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Ruta de la Plata'', with a c ...

of the Spanish

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

. From 2007–08 onwards, Toni competed in the Cypriot First Division, where he appeared for

Ethnikos Achna FC Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club currentl ...

AEK Larnaca F.C. AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

and Ermis Aradippou. With the second side, he won the

2012–13 Cypriot Cup The 2012–13 Cypriot Cup was the 71st edition of the Cypriot Cup. A total of 28 clubs entered the competition. It began on 31 October 2012 with the first round and concluded on 22 May 2013 with the final which was held at Tsirion Stadium. Apollon ...

International career

Toni represented the Portugal national team three times, gaining two caps for the under-21s and one for the B-side. All his appearances were

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toni Lopes 1979 births Living people Footballers from Setúbal Portuguese footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Lusitano G.C. players S.C. Farense players S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers S.C. Beira-Mar players Swiss Super League players Servette FC players Segunda División B players Zamora CF footballers Cypriot First Division players Ethnikos Achna FC players Apollon Limassol FC players AEK Larnaca FC players Ermis Aradippou FC players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portugal men's B international footballers