Vítor Manuel Afonso Damas de Oliveira (8 October 1947 – 13 September 2003), known as Damas, was a Portuguese

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 ...

who played as a goalkeeper. In a 23-year professional career he was mainly linked with Sporting, but he also played for three other teams, including

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

. A

Portugal international The Portugal Open in badminton is an international open held annually in Portugal since 1965. It is currently a part of the European Badminton Circuit The European Badminton Circuit is a series of international badminton tournaments in Europe, san ...

for 17 years, Damas represented the country at the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial 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-team format. Colombia had ...

and Euro 1984, both in his mid-to-late 30s.

Club career

Born in Lisbon, Damas made his professional debut with hometown club Sporting CP at the age of just 19. After two years as a backup he became the capital side's undisputed starter, winning two

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

and three Taça de Portugal trophies, including

the double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

in 1973–74. Damas moved to Spain in the summer of 1976, signing with

. He was also first choice at the

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the ea ...

ns, spending the last of his four seasons in the Segunda División. Aged nearly 33, Damas returned to Portugal, playing two years apiece with Vitória S.C. and

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 Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It a ...

, after which he rejoined Sporting. He still went on to produce five more respectable campaigns, only losing his status in 1988–89 to Uruguayan Rodolfo Rodríguez. Following his retirement at almost 42, Damas remained at Sporting as goalkeepers' coach. Over the course of two separate seasons he acted as interim manager with the ''Lions'', coaching the team to three wins, one draw and two losses. He died aged 55 from cancer, in Lisbon.

International career

Damas earned 29 caps for the Portugal national team, from 6 April 1969 to 11 July 1986. He was second choice at both UEFA Euro 1984 and the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial 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-team format. Colombia ha ...

, backing up S.L. Benfica's

Manuel Bento Manuel Galrinho Bento (25 June 1948 – 1 March 2007) was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Bento was best known for his 20-year spell at Benfica, having retired well into his 40s after appearing in nearly 650 o ...

; however, in the latter tournament, the starter suffered a serious

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a human leg, leg bone on the Lateral (anatomy), lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long ...

injury in training, and he took the pitch for group stage losses against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

(1–0) and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

(3–1).

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 1969–70, 1973–74 * Taça de Portugal: 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1987

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Damas, Vitor 1947 births 2003 deaths Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Vitória S.C. players Portimonense S.C. players La Liga players Segunda División players Racing de Santander players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Sporting CP managers Atlético Clube de Portugal managers Sporting CP B managers Deaths from cancer in Portugal