António Jesus Pereira (11 February 1955 – 27 September 2010), known as Jesus, was a Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Club career

Born in Espinho, Jesus finished his youth career at

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, but never appeared for the team as a senior. After a couple of seasons with S.C. Beira-Mar (his

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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 signed for

Varzim SC Varzim Sport Club () is a Portuguese football club based in Póvoa de Varzim. The club was founded on 25 December 1915, and has played at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Club since its foundation. The club plays in Liga 3, following relegation in ...

, then Vitória de Guimarães after three more years in the top flight. With the

Minho Minho or Miño may refer to: People * Miño (surname) * Choi Min-ho, South Korean singer and actor known mononymously as Minho Places * Minho (river) or Miño, in Portugal and Spain Jamaica * Rio Minho, a river Portugal * Minho Province ...

side, Jesus acted as backup in his first seasons, but was the undisputed starter in his last three, helping Vitória to finish third – 30 matches played and only 22 goals conceded, a competition-best – and reach the quarter-finals in the

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in 1986–87, also appearing in the following year's

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 ...

final, lost 1–0 to his former club Porto. He left in 1988, spending one top-division campaign apiece with

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club (), commonly known as Leixões, is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as athletics, boxing, football, futsal, handball, karate, swimming, volleyball, wat ...

and G.D. Chaves, being relegated with the former but finishing fifth with the latter. The 35-year-old Jesus returned to Vitória in the summer of 1990, taking part in all 38 league games in his debut campaign but subsequently being second-choice. He retired in 1994 at the age of 39 after one year with former side Chaves in the Segunda Liga, having made 363 appearances in Portugal's top tier over 16 seasons. Already as an active player, Jesus started working as a manager, also being

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

at Leixões (three matches) and Chaves (11). His subsequent career was almost exclusively spent in divisions two and

three 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, but he led C.S. Marítimo to the seventh position in the top flight in 1994–95; additionally, he spent the 2004–05 season as Guimarães' goalkeeper coach.

International career

After practically all of the Portugal national team defected following the infamous

Saltillo Affair The Saltillo Affair () was a series of controversies surrounding the Portugal national football team during its participation in the Mexico 1986 FIFA World Cup. The affair was named after the Mexican city of Saltillo, Coahuila, in which the team ...

at 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 ...

in Mexico, Jesus was chosen by managers Juca and Ruy Seabra as his starter for the

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France national football team, Fr ...

qualifying campaign. He made his debut on 4 February 1987 at the age of 32, in a 1–0 friendly home win over

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Death

On 27 September 2010, around 20:00, Jesus was returning home from a training session with his local club S.C. Espinho. Suddenly, he fell to the ground after suffering a heart attack, being rushed to the hospital but dying shortly after aged 55.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jesus, Antonio 1955 births 2010 deaths Footballers from Espinho, Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players FC Porto players G.D. Chaves players Lusitânia F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players Varzim S.C. players Vitória S.C. players Leixões S.C. players Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Leixões S.C. managers G.D. Chaves managers C.S. Marítimo managers F.C. Paços de Ferreira managers S.C. Covilhã managers C.D. Tondela managers 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen