Paulo Jorge da Silva dos Santos (born 11 December 1972) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

retired 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He appeared in 275 Primeira Liga matches over 14 seasons, representing in the competition Benfica, Estrela da Amadora, Alverca,

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 ...

, Varzim,

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

and

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

. Santos was part of the

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 ...

squad at the

2006 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Odivelas Odivelas ( or ) is a city and a municipality in Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal, in the Lisbon District and the historical and cultural Estremadura Province. The municipality is located 10 km northwest of Lisbon. The present Mayor is Hugo ...

Lisbon metropolitan area The Lisbon Metropolitan Area ( pt, Área Metropolitana de Lisboa; abbreviated as AML) is a metropolitan area in Portugal centered on Lisbon, the capital and largest city of the country. The metropolitan area, covering 18 municipalities is the l ...

, Santos began his football career at age 11 at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

, and made his debut in the Primeira Liga in the 1993–94 season, winning the league with capital neighbours

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 ...

by playing one minute in the last game. After successful stints with C.F. Estrela da Amadora and F.C. Alverca, he went on to represent FC Porto, with no significant impact. Santos joined

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

in summer 2005 after serving a loan stint with the same team the previous campaign. During that first year – with the Minho side finishing in fourth position in the league – when Andrés Madrid deflected the ball in for an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

, he was beaten for the first time in 595 minutes, just 40 short of the record set by Benfica's

Manuel Bento Manuel Galrinho Bento (25 June 1948 – 1 March 2007) was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Bento was best known for his 20-year spell at Benfica, having retired well into his 40s after appearing in nearly 650 off ...

; in the only other time he had conceded during that season so far,

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

claimed the away goal that ended the Portuguese's

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

at the first round for the second year running. In 2007–08, mainly due to injury problems, Santos appeared in only 12 league matches. He was released in December 2008 following a contract dispute,Paulo Santos liberta-se do Sp. Braga: «Sinto-me um jovem» (Paulo Santos cuts ties with Sp. Braga: "I feel young")
Mais Futebol, 19 December 2008 (in Portuguese) although he had a link running until June 2009. Midway through 2008–09, Santos spent time training with lowly

Odivelas F.C. Odivelas Futebol Clube is a sporting association in the city of Odivelas, in Greater Lisbon. It was founded in 1939 and has three football fields a gymnasium and other facilities. Odivelas F.C has won the Third Division in 1993. At youth level O ...

in the third division in order to stay fit. In July he "upgraded" to the second with G.D. Estoril Praia, appearing regularly to help his team retain their league status. On 12 July 2010, at nearly 38, Santos moved to top-tier club

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,5 ...

, filling the gap left by the departure of starter Carlos Fernandes, who had moved to

Bucaspor Bucaspor was a professional Turkish football club based in Buca, Izmir. Formed in 1928, Bucaspor were nicknamed Fırtına (Storm). The club colours were yellow and navy. It was dissolved in 2020. History Bucaspor was the fifth football club t ...

in Turkey. He retired two years later, having been first choice in his debut campaign.

International career

Santos won one cap for the Portugal national team, appearing in a friendly with

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

on 15 November 2005 (1–1 in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

). He was called up to 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 th ...

tournament, as a late replacement for the injured

Bruno Vale Bruno Miguel Esteves do Vale (born 8 April 1983) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his professional career in Cyprus with Apollon Limassol after being formed at Porto, appearing in more than 300 comp ...

. During the group stage game against Guinea for the

1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship The 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the third edition of the tournament, was held in the Scottish cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Motherwell, Aberdeen, and Dundee between 10 June and 24 June 1989. Players born after 1 August 1972 could participa ...

, Santos dropped his shorts to the crowd after being subjected to insults, being immediately suspended from the tournament and later banned by FIFA for one year.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Santos worked in the area of food supplements.

Honours

Benfica * Primeira Liga: 1993–94 Portugal *

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain national under ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

Individual *Primeira Liga Goalkeeper of the Year: 2006 Orders *Medal of Merit,

Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa The Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (also known as The Order of Our Lady of Conception of Vila Vicosa; pt, Ordem de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Vila Viçosa) is a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Braganza, the f ...

( House of Braganza)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Paulo 1972 births Living people People from Odivelas Portuguese footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players U.R. Mirense players C.D. Olivais e Moscavide players S.L. Benfica footballers F.C. Penafiel players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players F.C. Alverca players FC Porto players FC Porto B players Varzim S.C. players S.C. Braga players G.D. Estoril Praia players Rio Ave F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players