Luis Fernando da Graça Loureiro (born 4 December 1976) is a Portuguese former

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. ...

, 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 ...

. 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 142 matches and 15 goals over seven seasons, representing mainly

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

. He also competed professionally in Russia and Cyprus. In 2011, Loureiro started working as a coach.

Playing career

Club

Loureiro was born in

Sintra Sintra (, ), officially the Town of Sintra (), is a town and municipality in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The population of the municipality in 2021 was 385,654, in an area of . Sintra is one of the ...

, Lisbon Region. Having started his footballing career with his hometown club S.U. Sintrense, he went on to represent Portimonense SC, C.D. Nacional, Gil Vicente FC (making his

debut in the 2001–02 season), S.C. Braga,

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,

and C.F. Estrela da Amadora, also having uneventful abroad stints with

FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', , ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footba ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(February–July 2005) and

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 ...

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.

(August–December 2007). Arguably, Loureiro's biggest career moment came with Sporting: a spectacular goal, topping a great performance in a 2–1 home win against

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

during the 2005–06 campaign. However, he was never more than a utility player at the

Estádio José Alvalade The Estádio José Alvalade (; ') is a Football (soccer), football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the Estádio José Alvalade (1956), older stadium. The stadium is named afte ...

, making only 14 appearances in all competitions and leaving by mutual consent. Loureiro left Anorthosis in December 2007 after having arrived in the summer, following some injury problems and a serious run-in with manager

Temuri Ketsbaia Temur Ketsbaia ( ka, თემურ ქეცბაია; born 18 March 1968) is a Georgian professional football manager and former player. He most recently managed the Cyprus national team from June 2022 to September 2024. Club career Kets ...

. The former returned to Portugal the following month, signing until the end of the season with

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Estádio do Bessa. It is one of the oldest clubs ...

. In August 2008, after Boavista's top-flight relegation, Loureiro also dropped down a level, returning to

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 ...

's Portimonense and being released at the end of the campaign. After one year out of football he re-joined his first professional team Sintrense, in the fourth division.

International

Loureiro 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 ...

, all in 2003 and as a Gil Vicente player. His first came in the 1–0 loss to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 12 February in a friendly, and he last played in a 4–0 win over

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

on 10 June, in another exhibition game.

Coaching career

Starting in 2011, Loureiro managed Sintrense, C.D. Fatima, S.U. 1º Dezembro and Casa Pia AC, all in the third tier. He was appointed at the last of them in February 2019, and won

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

against S.C. Praiense before taking the championship title on 23 June with a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

win over U.D. Vilafranquense at the

Estádio Nacional The Estádio Nacional ', also known as Jamor National Sports Centre (), is a football stadium. It is located in the civil parish of Algés, Linda-a-Velha e Cruz Quebrada-Dafundo, in the municipality of Oeiras, in the southwestern part of Lisb ...

; in between, he spent 2017–18 at the helm of US Lusitanos Saint-Maur in the French

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system be ...

. For ending Casa Pia's 55-year absence from the

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

, Loureiro was given another year on his contract. In his first match managing in the competition, on 10 August 2019, the team lost 3–1 at

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 ...

. He was dismissed on 24 September with the side second from bottom, just after winning for the first time in the season. Loureiro continued working in division three the following years, with S.C.U. Torreense, Real S.C. and Vitória de Setúbal.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loureiro, Luis 1976 births Living people 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Sintra Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.U. Sintrense players Portimonense S.C. players C.D. Nacional players Gil Vicente F.C. players S.C. Braga players Sporting CP footballers C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Boavista F.C. players Russian Premier League players FC Dynamo Moscow players Cypriot First Division players Anorthosis Famagusta FC players Portugal men's B international footballers Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Russia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers S.U. Sintrense managers C.D. Fátima managers Casa Pia A.C. managers Vitória F.C. managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in France Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in France