Álvaro Monteiro Magalhães (born 3 January 1961), known simply as Álvaro as a player, is a Portuguese former

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, currently a manager. In 11 seasons in the

Primeira Liga 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 ...

, he appeared in 224 matches and scored six goals. He spent nine years of his career with Benfica, winning ten major titles. Magalhães 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 ...

at the 1986 World Cup and Euro 1984. In 1994, he began working as a coach.

Club career

Born in Lamego,

Viseu District The Districts of Portugal, District of Viseu ( ) is located in the Central Inland of Portugal, the District Capital is the city of Viseu. Municipalities The district is composed by 24 municipalities: * Armamar Municipality, Armamar * Carregal d ...

, Álvaro made his

debut in 1980 with Académica de Coimbra, moving subsequently to S.L. Benfica. After two seasons he became first choice, as 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 went on to win four leagues and as many

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 ...

(three consecutive in the latter competition) while making more than 200 official appearances. In June 1990, after only totalling 13 games in his last two seasons – Benfica also appeared in two European Cup finals during that timeframe, but he was only a fringe player – Álvaro left and signed with neighbours C.F. Estrela da Amadora, helping the team to the second round of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

; however, the league ended in relegation. He closed out his career at the age of 32 in the Segunda Liga, with Leixões SC. One year after retiring, Magalhães began a coaching career, working with several first and second-division teams. His first experience at the former level was with G.D. Chaves in 1997–98, narrowly avoiding relegation. From 2003 to 2005, Magalhães was assistant manager at Benfica under José Antonio Camacho and

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

respectively, winning the league title in the second season. In the latter part of the decade he had spells in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, being Girabola champion with G.D. Interclube for the second time in the

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

club's history. Magalhães signed a new two-year contract in November 2009 but, on 29 March 2011, he was relieved of his duties. In early February 2012, he was appointed coach of Clube Nacional de Benguela in the same country and league; soon after, he returned to Portuguese football, signing with

Associação Naval 1º de Maio Associação Naval 1º de Maio or Associação Naval 1893, commonly known as Naval, was a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District. Founded on 1 May 1893, it last played in the Division of Honour i ...

, which he had already managed in 2005–06's top flight and 2002–03's second tier.

International career

Álvaro was capped 20 times for

, making his debut on 16 December 1981 in a 5–2 friendly defeat against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. He was picked 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 ...

and the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, 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-tea ...

. After the infamous Saltillo Affair at the 1986 World Cup, Álvaro was one of the few players to not defect from the national team; his last international appearance came on 16November 1988 in a 1–0 win over

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

for the 1990 World Cup qualifiers in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

Personal life

Magalhães was born with polydactylism in his left hand, and was

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

d ''Seis dedos'' (six fingers) due to this condition.

Honours

Player

Benfica *

: 1982–83, 1983–84, 1986–87, 1988–89 *

: 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

: 1985, 1989 * Taça de Honra (1) * European Cup runner-up: 1987–88, 1989–90 *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

runner-up: 1982–83

Manager

Interclube * Girabola:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvaro Magalhaes 1961 births Living people People from Lamego 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Viseu District Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Académica de Coimbra (football) players S.L. Benfica footballers C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Leixões S.C. players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers C.D. Santa Clara managers G.D. Chaves managers Gil Vicente F.C. managers Vitória S.C. managers C.F. Estrela da Amadora managers Associação Naval 1º de Maio managers S.C. Olhanense managers C.D. Feirense managers S.C. Covilhã managers C.D. Tondela managers S.C. Farense managers Liga I managers FC Gloria Buzău managers Girabola managers G.D. Interclube managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Romania Expatriate football managers in Angola Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Angola S.L. Benfica non-playing staff