José Luís da Cruz Vidigal (born 15 March 1973) is a Portuguese 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

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. ...

. During his extensive professional career, the no-nonsense midfield battler spent more years abroad (Italy, eight) than in his country of adoption (seven), where he represented mainly

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

. A

Portugal international The Portugal International in badminton is an international open held annually in Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost po ...

for two years, Vidigal appeared with the national team at

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, helping them to third place.

Club career

Early career and Sporting CP

Born in Sá da Bandeira,

Portuguese Angola In southwestern Africa, Portuguese Angola was a historical Evolution of the Portuguese Empire, colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951), the overseas province Portuguese West Africa of Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo Portugal (1951–1 ...

, Vidigal moved 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 ...

at an early age, and started his footballing career with amateurs O Elvas CAD, joining Segunda Liga club G.D. Estoril-Praia in summer 1994. The following year, Vidigal signed with another team from the

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 ...

area,

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

of 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 ...

. After tentative beginnings, he became an essential defensive unit, contributing a career-best (in Portugal) 32 games in the 1999–2000 season as the ''Lions'' won their first title in 18 years, his only career trophy.

Italian spell

At 27, Vidigal moved to Italy, where he would remain the following eight years. He started out at

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

after signing along Sporting teammates

Facundo Quiroga Juan Facundo Quiroga (27 November 1788 – 16 February 1835) was an Argentine caudillo (military strongman) who supported federalism at the time when the country was still in formation. Early years Quiroga was born in San Antonio, La Rioja ...

and Abdelilah Saber, but only played four

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

matches in his first year and the team was also relegated. His best individual year – 33 appearances, five goals in the 2002–03 campaign – was incidentally spent in the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, but they narrowly avoided another relegation after ending 16th. Napoli finished higher in 2003–04, but were finally relegated off the pitch. Upon this, Vidigal moved to fellow top-flight side AS Livorno Calcio, starting throughout most of the season and helping to a comfortable ninth position. Vidigal was irregularly used in his final three years, often from the bench, representing

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

(

one year ''One Year'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Colin Blunstone, a member of the Zombies. It was released by Epic Records in 1971. It includes " Say You Don't Mind", which peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. Pr ...

) and returning to Livorno where he played until 2008.

Return to Portugal

Vidigal returned to his country aged 35, joining modest C.F. Estrela da Amadora where his older brother Lito was coach. In his first game, on 28 September 2008, he scored twice to help beat C.D. Nacional 2–1; however, he missed most of the season due to injury as the capital-based club was also immerse in a severe financial crisis – eventually being relegated from the top flight to the third tier; he retired shortly after.

International career

Vidigal earned 15 caps for

, his first being on 23 February 2000 in a 1–1 friendly draw with

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

. Selected for

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, he had to battle for position with

Paulo Bento Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento (; born 20 June 1969) is a Portuguese Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder with tackling ability and workrate ...

and Costinha (

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli. Starting his career ...

was also called, but was injured), but managed to take part in four games for the national team, including the semi-final loss against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Vidigal's last appearance was on 12 October 2002 in the 1–1 draw with

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

played in Lisbon, in another friendly. He also represented the nation at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, playing all the matches ''en route'' to fourth place.

Personal life

Vidigal was the second of 13 children, four of his brothers also being footballers: Beto, Lito (whom represented

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 ...

internationally),

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name used in several European countries as well as among individuals with ancestry from these countries outside Europe. In Spanish language, Spanish, Italian language, Italian, Croatian language, Croatian an ...

and

Jorge Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese . It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios ...

. His nephew,

André André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal ...

, was also involved in the sport professionally.

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 1999–2000 *

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 ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidigal, Jose Luis 1973 births Living people People from Lubango Colonial people in Angola Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent Black Portuguese sportspeople Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players O Elvas C.A.D. players G.D. Estoril Praia players Sporting CP footballers C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Serie A players Serie B players SSC Napoli players US Livorno 1915 players Udinese Calcio players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Portugal Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Portuguese association football commentators