Álvaro Cardoso da Silva (14 January 1914 – 12 May 2004) 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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He was known as Senhor Cardoso during his highly successful spell at Sporting.

Club career

Cardoso played for Vitória Setúbal from 1933 to 1938. In 1938, he joined Sporting, where he would spend ten years at the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

club. He is regarded as one of the best captains of Sporting, having worn the armband during the age of the famous ''Cinco Violinos'' ("Five Violins"). In this period, he won the

Primeira Divisão The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga P ...

four times, the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de 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 Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

four times, as well as the

Campeonato de Lisboa The Campeonato de Lisboa (English: Championship of Lisbon) was a regional football league in Portugal situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. It started in 1906, before the Lisbon Football Association was created, an ...

four times. His final match for Sporting was in the 1948 Taça de Portugal Final, in a 3–1 win over

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

. In all competitions for Sporting, he made 252 appearances and scored three goals.

International career

Cardoso represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

thirteen times, with eleven of those as the captain. He made his debut on 12 January 1941 in Lisbon, against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, which finished in a 2–2 draw. He was also part of the team that beat Spain for the first time in an official match, on 26 January 1947. According to legend, he received an anonymous phone call telling him to bury a lucky talisman behind the nets. He received a silver goat horn wrapped in tissue, and asked his teammate Serafim Neves to bury it at night, so that no one would know. He did so, and Portugal won 4–1. Cardoso's final appearance for Portugal was in a 10–0 loss to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where he demanded to be substituted in the first half, having been humiliated by

Tom Finney Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of England' ...

, the player he was supposed to be marking.

Managerial career

Having been the assistant manager at Sporting for the past two seasons under Randolph Galloway, Cardoso became manager in 1953. However, he lasted ten matches, winning six, drawing one and losing three. He was replaced in the same year by João Joaquim Tavares da Silva.

Honours

Club

; Sporting *

: 1940–41, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1947–48 *

: 1940–41, 1944–45, 1945–46, 1947–48 *

: 1941–42, 1942–43, 1944–45, 1946–47

References

External links

* * 1914 births Footballers from Setúbal Vitória F.C. players Sporting CP footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese men's footballers Sporting CP managers Primeira Liga players 2004 deaths Men's association football central defenders Portuguese football managers 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen {{Portugal-footy-defender-stub