Carlos Alberto Correia Fortes (born 20 October 1968), commonly known as Cao, is a 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
defensive midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
.
Club career
Cao was born in
Praia
Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.[Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...]
. After unsuccessfully emerging through
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 ...
's youth academy, he went on to play 12 seasons in the
two major levels of Portuguese football, representing
Rio Ave FC (
Segunda Liga),
F.C. Tirsense (
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 ...
),
Leça FC (first and second tiers),
S.C. Salgueiros (both),
S.C. Campomaiorense (both) and
F.C. Felgueiras (second).
Cao retired from professional football in 2003 with totals of 284 matches and 11 goals, going on to spend the rest of his career in amateur football, which included a third spell with Leça. Subsequently, he worked as a
graphic design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...
er.
International career
Cao was part of the
Portugal under-20 team that won the
1991 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship was the eighth staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, an international football competition organized by FIFA for men's youth national teams, and the eighth since it was established in 1977 as the FIF ...
, with the competition being held on home soil. In 2002, it was revealed that he had in fact been born in 1968, meaning he was crowned champion at the age of 22.
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cao
1968 births
Living people
20th-century Portuguese sportsmen
Cape Verdean men's footballers
Portuguese men's footballers
Footballers from Praia
Men's association football midfielders
Primeira Liga players
Liga Portugal 2 players
FC Porto players
Rio Ave F.C. players
F.C. Tirsense players
Leça F.C. players
S.C. Salgueiros players
S.C. Campomaiorense players
F.C. Felgueiras players
Portugal men's youth international footballers
Portugal men's under-21 international footballers