Nuno André da Silva Coelho (; born 7 January 1986) is a Portuguese former professional

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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Penafiel Penafiel ( or ) is a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality and former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) in the Norte Region, Portugal, northern Portugal, Portuguese Porto District, district of Porto. Capital of the Tâmega Subregion ...

, Coelho reached

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 ...

from northern neighbours F.C. Penafiel aged 18, and spent his first professional months with the reserve side, being loaned shortly after to F.C. Maia of the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He spent the next three seasons out on loan, to

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

Portimonense SC Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football ...

, for which he played alongside namesake Nuno Miguel Coelho in the 2007–08 season also in the second tier, and C.F. Estrela da Amadora. Coelho made his

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 ...

debut with C.F. Estrela da Amadora on 24 August 2008, playing 90 minutes for C.F. Estrela da Amadora in a 1–0 home win against Académica de Coimbra. In July 2009, he returned to Porto following the retirement of veteran

Pedro Emanuel Pedro Emanuel dos Santos Martins Silva (born 11 February 1975), known as Pedro Emanuel, is a Portuguese retired Association football, footballer who played mainly as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender, currently Manag ...

, appearing only once during the league campaign, the 4–1 victory at

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pe ...

in the last matchday (adding four

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

games and the first half of the 5–0 away loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

round-of-16 second leg). On 4 July 2010, Coelho signed a four-year contract with

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,

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1million, as

João Moutinho João Filipe Iria Santos Moutinho (; born 8 September 1986) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Primeira Liga club Braga. Moutinho began his professional career with Sporting CP, moving in 2010 to Porto and winnin ...

moved in the opposite direction; the northerners retained 50% of the player's rights. His first official match came on 14 August in a 1–0 defeat at F.C. Paços de Ferreira. On the 26th he scored a rare goal, shooting from 40 metres as the ''Lions'' defeated

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

3–0 after losing 0–2 at home, thus

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

's group stage. After the end of

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

– where he was used sparingly, often not being selected for matches even when healthy – on 7 June 2011, Coelho was sold to

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

as an installment deduction on the transfers of João Pereira and Evaldo, agreeing to a four-year deal. His three-year spell in

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 ...

was marred by several injury problems. Coelho joined

Balıkesirspor Balıkesirspor is a Turkish sports club, club based in Balıkesir. Established in 1966, the Association football, football team played in the Süper Lig after achieving promotion having finished as runners-up of the TFF First League in 2013–14 T ...

from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on 5 July 2014, on a three-year deal. On 26 January 2016, after several months without a club, he moved to the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

with

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

, scoring from 30 yards in his debut in a 1–0 away win over the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

. On 21 January 2017, Coelho agreed to a short-term contract at G.D. Chaves. He retired two years later at the age of 33, after three seasons as a backup and relegation in his last.

International career

Over roughly two years, Coelho played for the Portugal under-21 team. On 29 August 2010 he was first called to the senior side, for two

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

qualifiers against

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 ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, but did not make his debut.

Honours

Porto *

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 ...

: 2009–10 Braga *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coelho, Nuno Andre 1986 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Penafiel Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players FC Porto B players FC Porto players F.C. Maia players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Portimonense S.C. players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Braga players G.D. Chaves players Belgian Pro League players Standard Liège players Süper Lig players Balıkesirspor footballers Major League Soccer players Sporting Kansas City 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 Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States