José Carlos Leite de Sousa (born 9 October 1977) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a right-back, currently a manager. He totalled 159 matches and four goals 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 ...

over ten seasons, representing mainly in the competition Belenenses (five years).

Club career

Born in

São João da Madeira São João da Madeira (), officially the City of S. João da Madeira (), is a city and a List of municipalities of Portugal, municipality in northwestern region of the Portugal, Portuguese Norte Region, Portugal, Norte region. It's part of the la ...

, Sousa started playing with his local club A.D. Sanjoanense. In 1993, he joined the youth ranks of S.L. Benfica, from where he was loaned to F.C. Alverca who acted as the

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

. After a successful debut season with the Ribatejo Province side, the 20-year-old Sousa was recalled by Benfica manager Manuel José in August 1997, due to a good performance in a Segunda Liga match against F.C. Paços de Ferreira. Dubbed the new António Veloso by the press, he made his

debut for the latter on 13 September 1997 in a home draw against Académica de Coimbra, becoming a regular starter and scoring his only goal for them in a 4–1 win over

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,

at the Estádio José Alvalade; Graeme Souness brought in Gary Charles midway through the 1998–99 campaign, and his playing time was subsequently vastly reduced. Sousa signed a permanent deal with Alverca in summer 1999, staying only one year before agreeing to a five-year contract at

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

on 5 August 2000. He was consecutively loaned during his tenure at the Estádio das Antas, however. On 21 August 2002, Sousa joined C.F. Os Belenenses on a one-year loan, moving on a permanent basis ahead of the following season and always representing 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 ...

-based side in the top flight. Afterwards, he joined

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia (, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a Cypriot football club based in Nicosia and competes in the . The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the Cyprus Football Association. The club colors are black and green. ...

from

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 ...

, ending his career in 2010 aged 32 after one season with F.C. Arouca in the third division. In June 2016, following a spell at Belenenses as youth coach, Sousa was appointed manager of third tier team U.D. Vilafranquense. He later worked with Sport Alenquer e Benfica and Belenenses again at the same level. Sousa returned to Belenenses on 30 May 2024, now as manager of the first team and following the club's relegation to the Liga 3. He led them to the promotion phase, but also managed to collect only one win in 12 games, being dismissed in January 2025.

International career

Sousa earned 18 caps for Portugal all youth levels comprised. He made his debut for the under-21 team on 5 September 1998, playing the first half of a 3–0 away win against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

for the 2000 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.

Personal life

Sousa's son, Bruno Leite, was also a footballer. He spent most of his career in Norway. Sousa's uncle António Sousa and his cousin Ricardo were also involved in the sport, as

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 ...

s and managers; the former represented Sanjoanense and Porto as well, also being a longtime Portuguese international.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Jose 1977 births Living people 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from São João da Madeira Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Alverca players S.L. Benfica footballers S.C. Braga players FC Porto players S.C. Farense players C.F. Os Belenenses players S.C. Beira-Mar players F.C. Arouca players Cypriot First Division players Olympiakos Nicosia players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's B international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese football managers C.F. Os Belenenses managers