Rui Jordão
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Rui Manuel Trindade Jordão (; 9 August 1952 – 18 October 2019) was a Portuguese
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 ...
. His professional career was spent mostly with two of the biggest clubs in the country, Benfica and
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 ...
. One of the most prolific strikers in the history of Portuguese football, he won the Silver Ball award twice, once with each team. Jordão represented the Portugal national team for 17 years, appearing with them at Euro 1984.


Club career

Born in Benguela,
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 ...
, Jordão moved in his teens to Portugal's
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 ...
, making his professional debut in 1971–72. He played 18 games and scored seven goals in his debut campaign, appearingly slightly less in his second but still contributing five goals as the club won back-to-back Primeira Liga titles, only losing one match over two seasons. Jordão signed with Spanish side
Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...
in the summer of 1976, scoring regularly but being relegated from
La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
. Subsequently, he returned to his country of adoption and joined
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 ...
. Jordão enjoyed his best years with the ''Lions'', scoring in double figures in six of his first seven seasons, which included a total of 57 goals when the team won the league ( 1980 and 1982). At the age of 35 he moved to
Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...
, reuniting with former Sporting teammate Manuel Fernandes, another prolific veteran goalscorer. He finished his career two years later, having scored 212 goals in the Portuguese top division alone.


International career

In early 1972, Jordão won the first of his 43
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 ...
for
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 ...
, against
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
in the 1974 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Also in that year he was picked for the squad that lost the Brazilian Independence Cup, 1–0 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 ...
. On 13 November 1983, Jordão scored the decisive goal to beat the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, as the national side won 1–0 in Lisbon and qualified for
UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...
. In the final stages they reached the semi-finals, where the player scored twice against hosts
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
in
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
on 23 June – Portugal led 2–1 with only six minutes to go in extra time, after individual efforts and assists by Fernando Chalana, but eventually lost 3–2. Jordão played his last international in 1989 at nearly 37, the same year of his club retirement. He had returned to the national team after several players were given punishments for 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 ...
at the 1986 FIFA World Cup.


Later life

After he retired, Jordão moved away from the football world and became a painter and a sculptor. He died on 18 October 2019 at the age of 67, having been hospitalised with heart problems in Cascais. Fernando Gomes, the president of the
Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, Federação Portuguesa de Futebol; ) is the governing body of football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (UPF) by the three existing regional associations ...
, delivered a statement describing him as "peerless".


Career statistics


International


International goals


Honours

Benfica * Primeira Liga: 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76 *
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 ...
: 1971–72 Sporting CP *Primeira Liga: 1979–80, 1981–82 *Taça de Portugal: 1977–78, 1981–82 *
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...
: 1982 Individual * Bola de Prata: 1975–76, 1979–80 * Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 1980


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordao, Rui 1952 births 2019 deaths People from Benguela Colonial people in Angola Angolan emigrants to Portugal Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent Black Portuguese sportspeople Angolan footballers Portuguese footballers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Sporting CP footballers Vitória F.C. players La Liga players Real Zaragoza players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain