Manoel Lourenço da Silva Filho (born 2 February 1978), known simply as Manoel, is a Brazilian 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

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

Football career

Born in

Feira de Santana Feira de Santana (; Portuguese language, Portuguese for "Saint Anne's Fair") is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It is the second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 616,272 according to Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, ...

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

, Manoel started his professional career with

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Bras ...

. In January 1999 he moved abroad and signed for

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, but returned shortly after to his country. Manoel would spend the following seven years in

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 ...

, playing for Vitória de Guimarães, Gil Vicente FC (scoring ten

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 ...

goals in the 2002–03 season as the Barcelos club finished eighth) and

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaqui ...

. In the 2005 summer he joined

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

, but was immediately loaned to Vitória Guimarães and never appeared officially for the ''Lions''; during his spell with the

Minho Minho or Miño may refer to: People * Miño (surname) * Choi Min-ho, South Korean singer and actor known mononymously as Minho Places * Minho (river) or Miño, in Portugal and Spain Jamaica * Rio Minho, a river Portugal * Minho Province ...

side he failed to find the net in the league, in an eventual relegation-ending campaign. After starting 2006–07 with

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

, also in the top flight, Manoel left Portugal and returned to his country, with lowly Clube de Regatas Brasil. In the following years he moved teams – and continents – constantly, playing for teams in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

External links

* 1978 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players SC Internacional players Esporte Clube Bahia players Clube de Regatas Brasil players PSV Eindhoven players Primeira Liga players Vitória S.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players Moreirense F.C. players Sporting CP footballers C.F. Os Belenenses players China League One players Shanghai Shenxin F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players OFC Vihren Sandanski players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bahrain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Saad Esporte Clube players Footballers from Feira de Santana 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen {{Brazil-footy-forward-1970s-stub