Carlos Luís Cereja de Morais Brito (born 21 September 1963) is a Portuguese retired

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 ...

, and is a

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 ...

. Most of his career was associated with Rio Ave, which he represented as both a player and manager, the latter in various spells.

Playing career

Born 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 ...

, Portugal, Brito played for three northern clubs during his 14-year professional career. After starting with local

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Estádio do Bessa. It is one of the oldest clubs ...

, where he could hardly get a game, he moved to neighbours S.C. Salgueiros. Brito's best year 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 ...

came in the 1987–88 season, when he scored three goals while appearing in all 38 matches, but his team was eventually relegated after finishing in 19th position. He wrapped up his career with Rio Ave FC, helping the

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km2. The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of ...

side promote to the second division in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

– his first year – and retiring as a player at nearly 33.

Coaching career

In 1996, with Rio Ave back in the top flight, Brito replaced

Henrique Calisto Henrique Manuel da Silva Calisto (born 16 October 1953) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a right-back, and is a manager. After his playing career ended he became a manager, taking charge of numerous clubs, mainly in Portugal, ...

in the 14th round, eventually leading the club out of the relegation zone and coaching the team until the end of the 1999–2000 campaign, which ended in relegation. After half a season at C.F. Estrela da Amadora and one year out of football, he returned to Rio Ave, helping it return to the top level. In summer 2005, after two further campaigns, Brito signed with another former team, Boavista, leading them to a final sixth position in the league and narrowly missing out on

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

to the

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 ...

. In 2007–08, Brito worked with

Leixões SC The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinho ...

, being fired near the end of the season, with the

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

side finally avoiding relegation. In January 2009 he replaced João Eusébio at Rio Ave, thus returning for a third stint as a manager. Brito was fired at the end of the 2011–12 campaign after Rio Ave could only rank in 14th position, even though it was enough to preserve top division status. In March 2015, he returned to active with F.C. Penafiel, last-placed in the second tier. He kept the club from relegation, and quit his job on 2 December. Brito was back in the same league on 16 February 2016, when he signed for sixth-placed S.C. Freamunde for the rest of the season. He left by mutual consent on 25 October that year, with the team second from bottom after 12 fixtures.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brito, Carlos 1963 births Living people Footballers from Porto Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Boavista F.C. players S.C. Salgueiros players Rio Ave F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Rio Ave F.C. managers C.F. Estrela da Amadora managers Boavista F.C. managers C.D. Nacional managers Leixões S.C. managers F.C. Penafiel managers S.C. Freamunde managers 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen