Jaime da Silva Graça (; 30 January 1942 – 28 February 2012) was a Portuguese football

midfielder 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 ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

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 ...

, Graça made his professional – and Primeira Liga – debut with local Vitória Futebol Clube, appearing in nearly 150 official games over five seasons and helping the '' Sadinos'' to three

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 ...

finals during his spell. In summer 1966, after scoring a combined 28 goals in his last two seasons with Vitória, he signed with

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 ...

, where he would win seven national championships and three Portuguese Cups, playing 229 matches all competitions comprised (29 goals). He netted the equaliser in the

1967–68 European Cup The 1967–68 European Cup was the 13th European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Manchester United, who beat Benfica 4–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London. The European Cup title marked the tenth ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, a 1–4 extra time loss against Manchester United. On 5 December 1966, Benfica's new

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bath short-circuited with seven players immersed. Luciano Fernandes was electrocuted before Graça – an

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...

by trade before he became a professional footballer – could save himself and the others, and the team played the rest of that season in black. After featuring rarely during his latter years at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, it ...

, the 33-year-old Graça returned to his first club, retiring from the game in 1977 with Portuguese top-flight (the only division he competed in) totals of 303 matches and 55 goals. He was in charge of C.D. Santa Clara as the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

side were promoted to 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 ...

in 1987, but could not prevent relegation the following year.

International career

Graça collected 36

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for the Portugal national team and scored four goals, mostly whilst as a Benfica player. His debut came on 24 January 1965, in a 5–1 home victory over

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

for the 1966 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Graça was selected for the final stages in England, appearing in all the games for the eventual third-placed team. He also represented the nation in the Brazilian Independence Cup in 1972, where Portugal lost to hosts

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, in what would be his last international appearance. Graça assisted

José Torres José ("Chegüi") Torres (May 3, 1936 – January 19, 2009) was a Puerto Rican-born American professional boxer. As an amateur boxer, he won a silver medal in the junior middleweight division at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1965, he d ...

in the ill-fated

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

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, marred by the

Saltillo Affair The Saltillo Affair ( pt, O Caso Saltilho) was a series of controversies surrounding the Portuguese national football team during its participation in the Mexico '86 FIFA World Cup. The affair was named after the Mexican city of Saltillo, Coah ...

Death

On 28 February 2012, Graça died at the Lusíadas Hospital in Lisbon after a long battle with illness. He was 70 years old.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Graça goal.''

Honours

Setúbal *

: 1964–65 Benfica *

Primeira Divisão 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, ...

: 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75 *Taça de Portugal: 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72 *

Taça de Honra Taça de Honra (Honour Cup) is a Portuguese friendly football tournament played between teams of the Lisbon Football Association (AFL). It is the third oldest competition in Portugal after the championships of Lisbon and Porto. The format has ...

(3) * European Cup runner-up: 1967–68 Portugal *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

third place: 1966

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graca, Jaime 1942 births 2012 deaths Sportspeople from Setúbal Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Vitória F.C. players G.D. Sesimbra footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Eléctrico F.C. players Portugal international footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers C.D. Santa Clara managers