Hernâni Madruga Neves (born 2 November 1963), known simply as Hernâni, is a retired Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

player. In the former, he 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. ...

. He amassed

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 84 games and two goals over the course of ten seasons, representing in the competition

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

and Benfica.

Football career

Hernâni was born in

Mourão Mourão () is a municipality in the District of Évora in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 2,663, in an area of 278.63 km2. Geography The municipality borders the municipality of Alandroal to the north, Spain to the east, Barrancos to ...

Évora District Évora District ( ) is located in Alentejo, in southern Portugal. The district capital is the city of Évora. It borders Spain. Municipalities The district is composed by 14 municipalities: * Alandroal * Arraiolos * Borba * Estremoz * Év ...

, and began his professional career with

. In a career greatly hampered by injuries he only played one solid season as a professional, 1987–88, appearing in 23 out of 38 matches to help the club finish in eighth position and attracting the attention of

and

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

runner-up

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 " ...

, which signed him in the subsequent off-season. On 4 December 1988, Hernâni scored a rare goal, netting for Benfica in a 2–0 home win against former side Setúbal. A fortnight later, after a 2–0 home success against Lisbon neighbours

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, he tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

, and received a three-month ban. He was a first-team regular in the latter part of the 1989–90 campaign, and played the whole of the

1990 European Cup final The 1990 European Cup final was a football match between AC Milan of Italy and Benfica of Portugal, played on 23 May 1990 at the Praterstadion in Vienna, Austria. The winning goal came in the 68th minute for Milan, when Frank Rijkaard ran throug ...

, lost 1–0 to

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

; he remained with the club for a further four years, but made only six appearances combined. After a return to Setúbal, where he played 14 games in two seasons, and a spell in the Segunda Liga with C.D. Beja where he reunited with former Vitória teammate

Adelino Nunes Adelino Carlos Morais Nunes (born 6 September 1960) is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Nunes was born in Manteigas, Guarda District. During 18 seasons as a professional, he played mainly for Vi ...

, Hernâni retired from the game in June 1997 at age 33. He also earned two

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 ...

, his debut coming on 5 December 1987 in a 0–3 defeat to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France national football team, Fr ...

qualifiers.

Beach soccer

One year after retiring, Hernâni started appearing for the Portugal beach soccer team, being one of their leading figures for one full decade and winning a total of 14 titles, as well as many other top-three finishes. From 2006 to 2009, he also played at club level, with Italian side Cavalieri del Mare di Viareggio.

Football statistics

Honours

Football

: 1988–89, 1990–91, 1993–94 *

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 ...

: 1992–93; runner-up 1988–89 *

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 ...

runner-up: 1993 *

runner-up: 1989–90

Beach soccer

*Italian Supercup: 2008 Portugal * Mundialito: 2003, 2008; runner-up 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

: 2001; runner-up 1999, 2002, 2005; third place 2003, 2004, 2008 * Euro League: 2002, 2007, 2008; runner-up 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006; third place 1999, 2003 * Euro League Portuguese Event: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 * Euro League French Event: 2004, 2005 * Euro League Spanish Event: 2005; runner-up 2006; third place 2007 * Euro League Italian Event: runner-up 2005, 2007; third place 2006 *

Copa Latina The Latin Cup was an international official football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested FIFA launch the competition ...

: 2000; runner-up 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003; third place 2005 * Pro Tour runner-up: 2001 Individual *

: MVP 2001 * Mundialito: MVP 2004

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernani Neves 1963 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Vitória F.C. players S.C. Farense players S.L. Benfica footballers C.D. Beja players Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in association football Portuguese beach soccer players Footballers from Évora District 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen

Football career

Beach soccer

Football statistics

Honours

Football

Beach soccer

See also

References

External links