Renato João Inácio Margaça (; born 17 July 1985) is a 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 ...

. Mainly a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he could also operate as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Born in Portugal, he represented the Cyprus national team.

Club career

Born in

Covilhã Covilhã (), officially Covilhã City (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in the Centro, Portugal, Centro region, Portugal. The city proper had 33,691 inhabitants in 2021. The municipality population in 2021 was 46,455 in an area of . It is ...

, Margaça's input at the professional level in his country consisted of six Segunda Liga games with F.C. Alverca in 2004–05. At the end of the season the club folded, and he went on to resume his career in the lower leagues. In the summer of 2008, Margaça moved to the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

where he remained more than one decade. He started out at

Doxa Katokopias FC Doxa Katokopias FC () is a Cypriot professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word) ...

, signing with

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EPA Larnaca and Pezoporikos. The club also has a men' ...

two years later. On 8 July 2017, six years after arriving there, the 32-year-old Margaça renewed his contract with

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also Romanization of Greek, transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional multi-sport club, esta ...

until June 2020.

International career

At youth level, Margaça earned 11

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 ...

. On 17 March 2017, after being awarded the country's citizenship, he was called up to the Cyprus national team, making his debut five days later in a 3–1 friendly win over

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

where he was involved in two of the goals.

Career statistics

Honours

Omonia *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 2011–12 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2012 Anorthosis *Cypriot Cup: 2020–21

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Margaca, Renato 1985 births Living people Cypriot people of Portuguese descent Portuguese emigrants to Cyprus Sportspeople from Covilhã 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Cypriot men's footballers Footballers from Castelo Branco District Naturalised association football players Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players F.C. Alverca players C.D. Fátima players S.C.U. Torreense players C.D. Mafra players Cypriot First Division players Cypriot Second Division players Doxa Katokopias FC players AEK Larnaca FC players AC Omonia players Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players Anorthosis Famagusta FC players Portugal men's youth international footballers Cyprus men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus