Hélio José Ribeiro Pinto (born 29 February 1984) 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

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. A youth product of Benfica, he spent most of his career with APOEL in Cyprus, appearing in 276 competitive matches and winning eight major titles. He also played in Spain, Cyprus, Poland, Qatar, Norway, Greece and India.

Club career

Pinto was born in

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro (district), Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2022 was 63,079 in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão. In ...

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

. A product of S.L. Benfica's youth system, he could never break into the first team, tottalling just five minutes in 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 ...

under José Antonio Camacho. His next stop was in Spain with

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

, where he only appeared for the reserves. Still owned by Sevilla, Pinto spent the 2005–06 season in Cyprus with

Apollon Limassol FC Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has Association football, football, Apollon Limassol B.C., basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cyp ...

. Being released the summer, his career settled with another team in the country,

APOEL FC APOEL FC (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a Cypriot professio ...

. During his spell with APOEL, Pinto was an important member as the club won the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

on four occasions, adding amongst other trophies the domestic cup in 2007–08. He also appeared in all six group-stage games in their first participation in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. Pinto played eight matches in the 2011–12 Champions League, as the

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

-based side surprisingly reached the quarter-finals of the competition. On 5 June 2013, he signed a three-year contract extension but, later that month, announced he was leaving after seven years. On 21 June 2013, Pinto agreed to a two-year deal (with an option for another season) with

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He was released two years later, moving to the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

with Al-Mesaimeer Sports Club shortly after. On 2 February 2016, Pinto returned to Cyprus and joined

Anorthosis Famagusta FC Anorthosis Famagusta (), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Famagusta multi-sport club founded in 1911 in Varosha, Famagusta.

. The following 28 January, he signed with Greek club Trikala F.C. from Norway's Kongsvinger IL Toppfotball. Following a stint with

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

franchise

NorthEast United FC NorthEast United Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Guwahati, Assam that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded on 13 April 2014 during the inaugural sea ...

, Pinto returned to Portugal after 14 years and agreed to a contract at third-tier

Louletano D.C. Louletano Desportos Clube is a Portugal, Portuguese club from Loulé, founded on 6 June 1923. The association football team currently play in the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores (Portuguese fourth level), D series. The club plays at the Estádio ...

on 15 June 2018.

International career

Pinto gained Cypriot nationality on 27 July 2012, and the

Cyprus Football Association The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) (, ) is the governing body of football in Cyprus and is based in Nicosia. It organises Cyprus's football championships, whose top league is the Cypriot First Division. It also organises the Cypriot Cup, the ...

subsequently waited for

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

approval on whether could play for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. The governing body eventually ruled he could not represent his adopted nation, after having appeared 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-18, under-19 and under-20 levels.

Coaching career

After starting his coaching career with Louletano's reserves, on 8 November 2022 Pinto was named manager of

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

, bottom at the Campeonato de Portugal. His only season resulted in unprecedented relegation to the district leagues, nine years after being a top-flight club; he was then replaced by Miguel Serôdio.

Career statistics

Honours

Apollon Limassol *

: 2005–06 APOEL *Cypriot First Division: 2006–07, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 2007–08 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2008, 2009, 2011 Legia Warsaw *

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

: 2013–14 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 2014–15

References

External links