Rui Manuel Trindade Jordão (; 9 August 1952 – 18 October 2019) was a Portuguese footballer. His professional career was spent mostly with two of the biggest clubs in the country, Benfica and

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,

. One of the most prolific strikers in the history of Portuguese football, he won the Silver Ball award twice, once with each team. Jordão represented the Portugal national team for 17 years, appearing with them at Euro 1984.

Club career

Born in

Benguela Benguela (; Umbundu: Luombaka) is a city in western Angola, capital of Benguela Province. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities with a population of 555,124 in the city and 561,775 in the municipality, at the 2014 census. History Por ...

Portuguese Angola In southwestern Africa, Portuguese Angola was a historical Evolution of the Portuguese Empire, colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951), the overseas province Portuguese West Africa of Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo Portugal (1951–1 ...

, Jordão moved in his teens to Portugal's S.L. Benfica, making his professional debut in 1971–72. He played 18 games and scored seven goals in his debut campaign, appearing slightly less in his second but still contributing five goals as the club won back-to-back

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 ...

titles, only losing one match over two seasons. Jordão signed with Spanish side

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

in the summer of 1976, scoring regularly but being relegated from

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

. Subsequently, he returned to his country of adoption and joined

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,

. Jordão enjoyed his best years with the ''Lions'', scoring in double figures in six of his first seven seasons, which included a total of 57 goals when the team won the league (

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and 1982). At the age of 35 he moved to Vitória de Setúbal, reuniting with former Sporting teammate Manuel Fernandes, another prolific veteran goalscorer. He finished his career two years later, having scored 212 goals in the Portuguese top division alone.

International career

In early 1972, Jordão won the first of his 43 caps 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 ...

, 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 ...

in the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

qualifiers. Also in that year he was picked for the squad that lost the Brazilian Independence Cup, 1–0 to hosts

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. On 13 November 1983, Jordão scored the decisive goal to beat the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, as the national side won 1–0 in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

and qualified for

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

. In the final stages they reached the semi-finals, where the player scored twice against hosts

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

on 23 June – Portugal led 2–1 with only six minutes to go in

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

, after individual efforts and assists by Fernando Chalana, but eventually lost 3–2. Jordão played his last international in 1989 at nearly 37, the same year of his club retirement. He had returned to the national team after several players were given punishments for the Saltillo Affair at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

Later life

After he retired, Jordão moved away from the football world and became a painter and a sculptor. He died on 18 October 2019 at the age of 67, having been hospitalised with heart problems in

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera, Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Port ...

. Fernando Gomes, the president of the

Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation ( , FPF) is the governing body of Association football, football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (, UPF) by the three existing regional associations of Lisbon Footbal ...

, delivered a statement describing him as "peerless".

Career statistics

International

International goals

Honours

Benfica *

: 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76 *

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 ...

: 1971–72 Sporting CP *Primeira Liga: 1979–80, 1981–82 *Taça de Portugal: 1977–78, 1981–82 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

: 1982 Individual * Bola de Prata: 1975–76, 1979–80 * Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 1980

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordao, Rui 1952 births 2019 deaths Colonial people in Angola Angolan emigrants to Portugal Portuguese sportspeople of Angolan descent Black Portuguese sportspeople 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Angolan men's footballers Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Benguela Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Sporting CP footballers Vitória F.C. players La Liga players Real Zaragoza players New England Tea Men players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States