Francisco Ernandi Lima da Silva (born 2 July 1959), better known as Mirandinha, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Club career

Mirandinha was born in

Chaval, Ceará Chaval is a municipality in the state of Ceará in the Northeast region of Brazil. The municipality contains part of the Delta do Parnaíba Environmental Protection Area, created in 1996. The municipality also contains part of the Serra da Ibia ...

. He had unsuccessful early spells at

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

and

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

, before finding some success at the 'third club' in Fortaleza city, Ferroviário. He then moved to play for Ponte Preta. As of 1981 he was playing for

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

in the Taça de Ouro. Mirandinha signed for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

in 1987 for £575,000, becoming the first Brazilian to play in English football. He made his debut in September 1987, in a 1–1 draw away to

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

. He left Newcastle in 1989, returning to his former club

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

. In 1991, he moved from Palmeiras to join

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 ...

, although he was only there for a short time, playing three Portuguese League matches. By late February he was playing for

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

, and he scored two goals for them in the

1991 Copa Libertadores The 1991 Copa Libertadores was won by Colo-Colo of Chile after defeating Olimpia of Paraguay with a 3–0 aggregate score in the finals. The championship would mark a first for a Chilean club team in an international tournament. Twenty-one clubs ...

.1991 Copa Libertadores results and line-ups at RSSSF
(although appearance data is not listed for Corinthians match against Flamengo on 20 March 1991, which was abandoned, although the match was declared valid) After leaving Corinthians he played for

, and he then had spells in Japan with

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

and

Shonan Bellmare is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuk ...

International career

Mirandinha won four caps for the Brazil national team, all in 1987, with his only international goal coming against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in a 1–1 draw during the

1987 Rous Cup The 1987 Rous Cup was the third staging of the Rous Cup annual international football match that increased the teams from the two rivals of England and Scotland to increase the competition experience for FA to invite Brazil. Brazil successful ...

Post-playing career

As of July 2013 he was a director at Maguary, who were playing in the third division of the

Campeonato Cearense The Campeonato Cearense is the professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Ceará. It is run by the Ceará Football Federation (FCF). In over a hundred years of competition, only 11 clubs have won the title. List of champio ...

. In 2014 he was the manager of the Castelão stadium in

, a host venue in the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirandinha 1959 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers 1987 Copa América players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Primeira Liga players English Football League players J1 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Brazilian football managers Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players SE Palmeiras players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Clube Náutico Capibaribe players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Newcastle United F.C. players C.F. Os Belenenses players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Fortaleza Esporte Clube players Shimizu S-Pulse players Shonan Bellmare players São Paulo state football team players Ferroviário Atlético Clube (CE) managers Hajer Club managers Goiânia Esporte Clube managers Atlético Rio Negro Clube managers Al Raed FC managers Nacional Futebol Clube managers Esporte Clube Flamengo managers Fortaleza Esporte Clube managers Parnahyba Sport Club managers River Atlético Clube managers Expatriate football managers in Sudan Men's association football forwards Footballers from Ceará 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan