José Pinto de Carvalho Santos Águas (; 9 November 1930 – 10 December 2000) was a Portuguese
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
striker.
He enjoyed a lengthy professional spell with
Benfica, never scoring less than 18 goals in 12 of his 13
first division seasons.
A prolific goalscorer, Águas was nicknamed "Cabeça de Ouro" ("Golden Head") because of his header skills.
Club career
Born in
Luanda
Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...
,
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 ...
,
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
from a
Portuguese colonial family, Águas started his footballing career with local team Lusitano do Lobito, before moving to
S.L. Benfica in 1950 where he gained legendary status.
With Benfica he won 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 ...
five times (1955, 1957, 1960, 1961 and 1963) and the
domestic cup seven, also being crowned national league's top scorer on five occasions. In the years previous to
Eusébio
Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...
's rise, he was also instrumental in the club's back-to-back
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 ...
conquests, in
1961
Events January
* January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union.
* January 3
** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
against
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
(
3–2), and
the next season against
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
(
5–3), scoring his team's first goal on both occasions and being
club captain
The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influ ...
; he failed to complete a hat-trick of wins in the competition after the 1–2 defeat to
A.C. Milan in the
1963 final (he did not play).
After leaving Benfica, Águas, aged 33, played one more season for
FK Austria Wien
Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German language in Europe, German-speaking countries, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vi ...
, retiring the next summer. He died in
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 ...
, at the age of 70 after a prolonged illness.
International career
Águas made his debut 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 ...
on 23 November 1952, in a 1–1 draw with
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, and went on to gain a total of 25
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 ...
while scoring 11 times. His last appearance was on 17 May 1962, a 2–1 defeat against
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 ...
.
Personal life
Águas' son,
Rui, was also a footballer and a striker. He too represented Benfica and the national team, as well as
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 ...
.
His daughter, Helena Maria, known as
Lena d'Água, has a career in
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...
as a singer.
[
]
Career statistics
Club
International goals
:''Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Águas goal.''
Honours
Player
Benfica
*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 ...
: 1954–55, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962–63
*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 ...
: 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1961–62
*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 ...
: 1960–61, 1961–62
Manager
Marítimo
* AF Madeira Championship: 1966–67
* Madeira Cup: 1966–67
Atlético
*Segunda Divisão
:
:
The Segunda Divisão Portuguesa ( English: ''Portuguese Second Division'') was a football league situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. The division had previously been the second level of the Portuguese pyrami ...
: 1967–68
Individual
*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 ...
top scorer: 1951–52, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1960–61
*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 ...
top scorer: 1960–61
*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 ...
top scorer: 1950–51, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1957–58
See also
*List of association football families
This is a list of association football families. The countries are listed according to the national teams of the senior family member if the other family member played for a different country. If the senior members of the given member did not ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguas, Jose
1930 births
2000 deaths
Colonial people in Angola
Footballers from Luanda
Portuguese men's footballers
20th-century Portuguese sportsmen
Men's association football forwards
Primeira Liga players
S.L. Benfica footballers
Austrian Football Bundesliga players
FK Austria Wien players
Portugal men's international footballers
Portuguese expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Austria
Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Austria
Portuguese football managers
Leixões S.C. managers
UEFA Champions League–winning players
UEFA Champions League top scorers