Dário Alberto Jesus Monteiro (born 27 February 1977), known simply as Dário, is a Mozambican 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 striker. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal, amassing

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 ...

totals of 138 games and 35 goals over the course of seven seasons, mainly at the service of Académica. Towards the end of his career, he played two years in South Africa. Dário appeared with the Mozambique national team in two

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

tournaments.

Playing career

Club career

Born in

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, Dário arrived in 1996 to

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 ...

from local Desportivo de Maputo, signing with Académica de Coimbra. After tentative starts he became one of the club's most important players, scoring goals in the

at an impressive rate – in his last five full seasons in his first spell, he only netted once in single digits and averaged 14 per campaign, always ranking high in the scoring charts. Late into 2003, Dário earned himself a lucrative contract in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, joining

Al-Jazira Club Al Jazira Club () is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that currently competes in the UAE Pro League. History Al-Jazira was established in 1974 as a merger between ''Khalidiyah'' and ''Al Bateen''. The club struggled t ...

. Unsettled, he quickly returned to Portugal and Académica; in his only season in his second stint he only scored six times, but ranked first in his team, which barely avoided top flight relegation. Dário also played with

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, popularly known as Vitória de Guimarães or sometimes just Vitória, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Est ...

and C.F. Estrela da Amadora in Portugal, with very little impact, after which he left to

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 ...

with

Nea Salamis Famagusta FC Nea Salamis Famagusta FC (alternatively Nea Salamina, ) is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional Association football, football Sports club, club based in Ammochostos (also known by its Romanization of Greek, romanized name, Famagusta). It has been a r ...

. In the following year he moved countries again, successively representing in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Supersport United F.C. and

Mamelodi Sundowns FC Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

. In the summer of 2010, Dário was released by the Sundowns, stating he had offers from

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. After any move failed to materialize he returned to his country and signed for reigning

Moçambola Moçambola (or Campeonato Moçambicano de Futebol, Portuguese for Mozambican Football Championship) is the top division of Mozambican football. It is organized by the Liga Moçambicana de Futebol. History In 1976, shortly after the country's ...

champions

Liga Muçulmana de Maputo Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Ameri ...

, in late December.

International career

Dário played for

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

at the

1998 Africa Cup of Nations The 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso was the 21st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the national football championship of Africa, administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Just like in 1996, the field of six ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

as the national team finished bottom of their group (losing every match in the process), and also appeared in the 2010 edition in Angola, helping the nation to the quarter-final stage. He totalled 40

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 ...

and 16 goals, during 15 years.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mozambique's goal tally first.''

Coaching career

Dário is manager of Desportivo de Maputo and the

Mozambique national under-20 football team The Mozambique national under-20 football team () represents Mozambique in men's U-20 football team and is controlled by the Mozambican Football Federation (MFF), the governing body for football in Mozambique. In 2021 the team has qualified for ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dario Monteiro 1977 births Living people Footballers from Maputo Mozambican men's footballers Men's association football forwards GD Maputo players Liga Desportiva de Maputo players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Académica de Coimbra (football) players Vitória S.C. players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Al Jazira Club players Cypriot First Division players Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players SuperSport United F.C. players Mozambique men's international footballers 1998 African Cup of Nations players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players Mozambican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Mozambican expatriate sportspeople in South Africa UAE Pro League players