Carlos Narciso Chaínho (born 10 July 1974) is a Portuguese retired 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

Chaínho was born in

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 ...

Portuguese Angola In southwestern Africa, Portuguese Angola was a historical Evolution of the Portuguese Empire, colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951), the overseas province Portuguese West Africa of Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo Portugal (1951–1 ...

. After having played for modest clubs in 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 ...

area while growing up, Chaínho started professionally at C.F. Estrela da Amadora, moving in 1998 to 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 ...

with

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 ...

. His best individual season at the latter side was in 1999–2000 when he started in 25 of the 28 league matches he appeared in and scored twice, but they lost the championship to

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,

. In 2001, Chaínho had his first overseas experience, in Spain with

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, travelling to Greece in summer 2002 to work with Fernando Santos (a coach he knew well from his Estrela and Porto days) at

Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos Football Club ( ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', ), is a Greek professional Association football, footbal ...

. After a very poor

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

overall – the team failed to win any silverware and he only appeared six times in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

– he returned to Portugal in 2003, playing four years in

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

, two with C.S. Marítimo and two more with C.D. Nacional; the latter released him in July 2007, and the 33-year-old subsequently signed for

Alki Larnaca FC Alki Larnaca (, ''ALKI Larnakas'') was a Cypriot football club based in the town of Larnaca. The club was founded in 1948 and it was dissolved on the 6th of May 2014 due to financial issues. The club's colours were blue and red. They reached th ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. Chaínho spent the first half of the 2008–09 campaign as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, joining

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

's Shahin Bushehr F.C. in February 2009. He retired shortly after, having amassed Portuguese top-flight totals of 299 games and 14 goals.

International career

Chaínho appeared for Portugal at under-21 level. In 2006, he received a call-up from the Angola national team, but

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

confirmed that he was not eligible to represent countries other than the former, due to the regulation at that time.

Honours

Porto *

: 1998–99 *

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 ...

: 1999–2000, 2000–01 *

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 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

; runner-up:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chainho, Carlos 1974 births Living people Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent Angolan men's footballers Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Luanda Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Casa Pia A.C. players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players FC Porto players C.S. Marítimo players C.D. Nacional players La Liga players Real Zaragoza players Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Alki Larnaca FC players Shahin Bushehr F.C. players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Angolan expatriate men's footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Iran