António Maurício Farinha Henriques Morato (born 6 November 1964) is a Portuguese former 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 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 ...

Club career

Relatively short for the position,

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 ...

-born Morato quickly imposed himself at local

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, being an undisputed starter from the age of 19 onwards and making nearly 200 competitive appearances for the capital club before he reached 25. During his spell, he formed a pair of youth graduate stoppers alongside Pedro Venâncio. Morato then moved to another

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 ...

side in the summer of 1989,

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 his one-year stay would be not very successful. He won the only championship of his career but only appeared twice, barred by, amongst others, Belgian international

Stéphane Demol Stéphane Auguste Ernest Demol (11 March 1966 – 22 June 2023) was a Belgian professional football player and manager who played as a central defender. Demol amassed Belgian First Division A totals of 120 games and 11 goals over the course of ...

. Morato finished his professional career at only 29, after spells with

C.F. Os 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 ...

, Gil Vicente F.C. (two years) and

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese professional sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its Association football, football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home g ...

International career

Morato earned six

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 Java ...

for

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 ...

, being picked for the squad 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 ...

where he was an unused substitute.

Personal life

Morato's father, also named António, was also an international footballer.

Honours

Sporting CP *

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 ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

Porto *

: 1989–90

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morato, Antonio 1964 births Living people 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP footballers FC Porto players C.F. Os Belenenses players Gil Vicente F.C. players G.D. Estoril Praia players C.D. Beja players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players