José Eduardo Rosa Vale de Castro (born 13 January 1983), commonly known as Zé Castro, is a Portuguese former

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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He started and finished his professional career with Académica, but spent 11 years in Spain representing

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

, Deportivo and

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La ...

. Appearing for all the clubs in

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' ...

, he amassed totals of 168 matches and five goals. Castro earned 26

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 Ja ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

at youth level, including 15 for the under-21 team. He made his full debut in 2009.

Club career

Académica

Born in

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

, Castro entered hometown Académica de Coimbra's youth ranks as a child, and made his

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 ...

debut on 5 October 2003, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–1 away loss to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, 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 football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Por ...

. Despite his young age, he eventually became an undisputed starter and

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

Atlético Madrid

In May 2006, after unfinished advances by Portugal's ''Big Three'', Castro signed with Spanish club

on a free transfer alongside compatriot

Costinha Francisco José Rodrigues da Costa (born 1 December 1974), known as Costinha (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently a manager. Best known for his tackling and positioning, as well ...

. In his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ar ...

he benefitted from injuries to teammates, appearing in 22

matches and scoring two goals (including an 83rd-minute strike against

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

for the game's only goal, at home, on 20 January 2007). He featured rarely in the following season.

Deportivo

In the summer of 2008, Castro joined fellow league side

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

on a season-long loan, with the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic- Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance ...

having a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisat ...

of €2 million for 50% of the player's rights; the remaining 50% were owned by a company. Again due to injury – habitual starter

Pablo Amo Pablo Amo Aguado (born 15 January 1978) is a Spanish retired Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender, currently Manager (association football), manager of the Spain national u ...

was sidelined for months with an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

problem – the Portuguese was able to start most of the campaign, and the option was activated for a permanent move. Castro played only ten games in 2009–10, and featured even less the following season, prompting him to request a move in mid-November 2010. In March 2011, he was to be picked as a last-minute substitute for a league match against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

after Aythami Artiles went down with a bout of

gastroenteritis Gastroenteritis, also known as infectious diarrhea and gastro, is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract including the stomach and intestine. Symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Fever, lack of energy, and dehydrat ...

, but did not present himself at the

Estadio Riazor Estadio Municipal de Riazor (), also known as Estadio ABANCA-RIAZOR for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater stadium in A Coruña, Spain. The stadium is the home of Deportivo de La Coruña, and accommodates a total of 32,660 spectators, makin ...

and could not be traced through his

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive telephone call, calls over a radio freq ...

Later years

Following ''Depor''s two relegations in the space of three seasons, and a promotion in between, Castro returned to both

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

and the Spanish top flight on 29 August 2013, signing a one-year deal at

. In early July 2015, the 32-year-old extended that by a further three. Castro returned to Académica on 25 September 2017, after an absence of 11 years. In April 2022, after the club confirmed its first-ever relegation to the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

, he announced his retirement, saying of Portuguese football "We are very ignorant, football-wise. We aren't illiterate, illiteracy is not being able to learn. If you can learn but don't want to, you're ignorant".

International career

Shortly after his debut with Académica, Castro became a defensive stalwart for the Portugal under-21s, and appeared at the 2006 UEFA European Championship on home soil. There, he played three complete matches as the team exited in the group stage, and scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in the 2–0 defeat against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

. On 10 June 2009, Castro finally made his

full Full may refer to: * People with the surname Full, including: ** Mr. Full (given name unknown), acting Governor of German Cameroon, 1913 to 1914 * A property in the mathematical field of topology; see Full set * A property of functors in the mathe ...

debut, in a 0–0 friendly draw in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

. On 10 May of the following year, in spite of a poor season at Deportivo, he was included in a provisional squad of 24 players announced by

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirate ...

in view of the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

; however, after Pepe recovered in time to participate in the competition, he was cut.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Deportivo *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

* Segunda División: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Ze 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Coimbra Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players La Liga players Segunda División players Atlético Madrid footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Rayo Vallecano players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal B international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain