Francisco Miguel Franco Antunes Gomes (born 2 June 1988), commonly known as Chico, 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

right-back 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

Born in

Torres Vedras Torres Vedras () is a concelho, municipality in the Portugal, Portuguese district of Lisbon (district), Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon. It is a strong agricultural region thanks to its vineyards, and has an intense commercial ...

Lisbon District Lisbon District () is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the current Setúbal District. ...

, Chico spent five of his formative years at

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,

, then competed in the third division until the age of 23, in representation of four clubs. He first appeared in the Segunda Liga in the 2011–12 season with

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaqui ...

, starting in all of his league appearances to help the team to return 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 ...

after a seven-year absence. On 15 July 2013, after a further campaign in the second tier, with Portimonense SC, Chico signed a contract with

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n club

PSFC Chernomorets Burgas PSFC Chernomorets Burgas () or simply Chernomorets () was a Bulgarian football club from the city of Burgas. The club never won any major competition, its most notable achievement being a second-place finish in the UEFA Intertoto Cup competitio ...

following a successful one-week trial. His first top-flight match occurred four days later, when he played the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win against

PFC Cherno More Varna Cherno More () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on 3 March 1913, as an association football branch ...

in the

First Professional Football League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

. Subsequently, Chico returned to his country's second division, representing in quick succession

C.F. União Clube de Futebol União, commonly known as União da Madeira, was a Portuguese association football, football club based in Funchal, Madeira, notable for its six season in the Portuguese top-flight Primeira Liga, between the 1989–90 Primeira D ...

, C.D. Aves and C.D. Cova da Piedade. The 29-year-old moved abroad again in late September 2017, joining

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

side

FC Zbrojovka Brno FC Zbrojovka Brno is a professional football club based in the city of Brno, South Moravian Region, Czech Republic and named after Zbrojovka Brno, a firearms manufacturer. Founded in 1913 as SK Židenice, the club later became known as Zbrojovk ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chico 1988 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Torres Vedras Men's association football fullbacks Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players G.D. Tourizense players F.C. Infesta players F.C. Pampilhosa players S.C.U. Torreense players Moreirense F.C. players Portimonense S.C. players C.F. União players C.D. Aves players C.D. Cova da Piedade players Amora F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PSFC Chernomorets Burgas players Czech First League players FC Zbrojovka Brno players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria