Vítor Ilídio Castanheira Penas (born 7 September 1977), known as Castanheira, is a Portuguese 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

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 ...

, and is the current assistant manager of

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 ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 247 games and nine goals over the course of 13 seasons, mainly at the service of

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

(12 years).

Football career

Born in Chaves, Castanheira signed with

for the 1996–97 season, and would remain there for over eleven years, always in the

. His spell was a steady one, as he was always counted on by several team coaches, and he was influential when Hungarian

Miklós Fehér Miklós "Miki" Fehér (; 20 July 1979 – 25 January 2004) was a Hungarian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He spent most of his nine-year career in Portugal, represe ...

joined the club in 2000–01, providing ten assists as the striker scored 14 goals; he also served as co-captain during his stay. Castanheira was a relatively important part of the squad that finished in fourth place in 2005–06, appearing in 17 league matches (no goals). Braga nearly missed out on

qualification 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 ...

to 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 ...

, and progressed through to the round-of-16 in the following campaign's

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. In January 2008, as his importance in the team was gradually diminishing, he was loaned to top division promotees

Leixões The Port of Leixões (, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known simply as ''Leixões'', is Matosinh ...

, until the end of the season. The move was extended for the following campaign, after the

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

side retained their league status on the very last matchday. Castanheira was rarely used by Leixões in the 2008–09 season, and was released by Braga at its closure. He returned to youth club Chaves after 18 years, with it now in the second level of Portuguese football – in a relegation-ending season. He signed with another team in division two shortly after, newly promoted

Moreirense 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 Joaquim d ...

. Aged nearly 35, Castanheira moved abroad for the first time, joining several compatriots at Cypriot club Doxa Katokopias. He retired the following year, immediately being appointed as assistant coach at Braga B.

References

External links

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National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castanheira, Vitor 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Chaves, Portugal Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.C. Braga players S.C. Braga B players Leixões S.C. players G.D. Chaves players Moreirense F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Doxa Katokopias FC players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus PAOK FC non-playing staff Footballers from Vila Real District