Hélder Manuel Elias Domingos Baptista (born 18 February 1972) is a Portuguese retired 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

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 166 matches and six goals over seven seasons, mainly with Boavista. He also spent several years in Spain, with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

. After retiring, Baptista went on to work as an assistant manager.

Playing career

Club

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. ...

, Baptista made his senior – and

– debut in the 1991–92 season, appearing sparingly as local club S.C.U. Torreense was relegated after finishing third bottom. In the following six years, with the exception of 1993–94, spent with the same team, he continued to compete in the top flight, representing

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

, S.C. Braga and Boavista FC; he played his first game in 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 ...

with the latter side, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 3–2 away win against Odense Boldklub on 10 September 1996. In January 1999, Baptista signed with

Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. With 52 major trophies ...

in the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

, but the following

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

he switched to the Spanish

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 ...

with

, his first match in the latter competition taking place on 22 August when he came as a 73rd-minute substitute for Luis Cembranos in the 2–0 victory at

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, and his maiden goal occurring on 5 December in a 3–2 away loss to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

. Baptista contributed nine appearances (eight starts) in Rayo's quarter-final run in the 2000–01 UEFA Cup, but from

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

he also saw the club drop two consecutive levels. He retired in 2006 at the age of 33, after one year in the Portuguese third tier with Torreense.

International

Baptista earned six

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 ...

at under-21 level in one year. His last appearance was a 2–1 win over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the 1994 UEFA European Championship qualifiers on 27 April 1993, where he played as a substitute.

Coaching career

Baptista started working as a coach in 2011, joining Pedro Caixinha's staff at U.D. Leiria. He continued to work under the latter in the following years, at C.D. Nacional, Mexico's

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

and

Al-Gharafa SC Al-Gharafa Sports Club () is a Qatari multi-sports club based in the Al Gharrafa district of Al Rayyan municipality. The club is best known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. The club was established on 6 June ...

from Qatar. In March 2017, both Caixinha and Baptista joined Scottish club Rangers. On 26 October, they left.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baptista, Helder 1972 births Living people 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Torres Vedras Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.C.U. Torreense players S.C. Farense players S.C. Braga players Boavista F.C. players Ligue 1 players Paris Saint-Germain FC players La Liga players Segunda División players Rayo Vallecano players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Rangers F.C. non-playing staff