César Gonçalves de Brito Duarte (born 21 October 1964), known as Brito, 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 striker.

Club career

Born in the village of Barco, Brito started playing for local

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã or Sp. Covilhã, is a Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the third-tier Liga 3 (Portugal), Liga 3. The club was founded on ...

, but soon attracted attention from

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

, who signed him in 1985. He endured a difficult start at the latter, going on to serve a two-year loan at fellow

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 Portimonense SC. Upon his return, Brito appeared mainly from the bench, barred by Swede Mats Magnusson. His biggest moment at Benfica arrived during the 1990–91 season, as he scored twice – as a substitute – to beat

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 ...

away (2–0) and eventually clinch the national title, in a match that ended in a

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

. Brito ended his ten-year link at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Ben ...

in summer 1995, having totalled only 23 league games in his last three seasons. After a good year at

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 ...

neighbours C.F. Belenenses he moved to Spain, teaming up with a host of compatriots at

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

, including

Pauleta Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes (born 28 April 1973), known as Pauleta (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker. During 18 years as a senior he never played in the Primeira Liga, having spent 12 of those cam ...

. In his debut campaign, already aged 32, he netted 15 goals in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, helping the team to promote to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

while combining with Pauleta for 34 (the pair finished joint-first and fourth in the scoring charts). In 1997–98, Brito featured regularly as Salamanca managed to stay in the top flight, then joined modest

CP Mérida Club Polideportivo Mérida was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Mérida, Spain, Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Having played twice in La Liga (1995–96 La Liga, 1995–96 and 1997–98 La Li ...

in the second tier. He saw out his career at his first club, retiring at 35.

International career

Brito earned 14

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 ...

in four years, and scored twice.

Honours

Benfica *

: 1986–87, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1993–94

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brito, Cesar 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Covilhã 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Castelo Branco District Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.C. Covilhã players S.L. Benfica footballers Portimonense S.C. players C.F. Os Belenenses players La Liga players Segunda División players UD Salamanca players CP Mérida footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain