Paulo Sérgio Braga Madeira (born 6 September 1970) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a

central defender 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 ...

Club career

Madeira was born in

Luanda Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...

Portuguese Angola Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa). I ...

. A youth graduate of

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 ...

, he made his first-team debut in 1989–90 and, after serving a loan with fellow Primeira Liga club C.S. Marítimo, returned for another season. After excellent displays with Lisbon neighbours C.F. Os Belenenses, Madeira was bought back by Benfica, but failed to appear regularly in his second spell with his '' alma mater'' (five years), which included a demotion to the reserves. He retired at almost 34 after brief stints with Fluminense FC and C.F. Estrela da Amadora, with the campaign ending in relegation; over the course of 13 seasons, he amassed top-division (the only competition he appeared in in his country) totals of 291 games and 12 goals.

International career

At international level, Madeira was part of the Portugal senior team that participated at

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, although he did not leave the bench. In total, he earned 25

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and scored three goals in eight years. Previously, Madeira was instrumental in helping the under-20 side to the

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta'if. Qualification ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, playing all the matches.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Madeira, Paulo 1970 births Living people Angolan people of Portuguese descent Footballers from Luanda Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers C.S. Marítimo players C.F. Os Belenenses players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Fluminense FC players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers UEFA Euro 1996 players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Brazil