Anthony da Silva (born 20 December 1980), commonly known as Tony, 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 ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Playing career

The son of a Portuguese couple, Tony was born in

Le Creusot Le Creusot () is a Communes of France, commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France. The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerl ...

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

. After spending a decade in the youth academy of

Paris Saint-Germain FC Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

, he returned to his parents' hometown of Chaves in his teens, making his debut in professional football at the age of 20 with G.D. Chaves in the Segunda Liga and remaining four years with the club at that level. Silva made his

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 ...

debut in the 2005–06 season, only missing two games as C.F. Estrela da Amadora easily retained their league status. In January 2007 he moved abroad, signing with

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

in Romania. During his spell at Cluj, Silva quickly became a fan favourite for his strong work ethic and dedication, eventually gaining team captaincy. During his stint he won six major titles, including two

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

championships, contributing a total of 50 appearances and one goal to those conquests (32 matches in 2007–08). In the following campaign he suffered a knee

ligament A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have liga ...

injury which sidelined him for several weeks, but he still recovered in time to help the club

win Win or WIN most likely refers to: * A victory Win, Winning, WIN or Winner may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * '' Win!'', a 2016 American film Literature * ''Win'' (Coben novel), 2021 * WIN (pacifist magazine) * WIN (wrestling ma ...

the domestic cup for the second time in its history. Silva returned to his country in January 2011 and signed with

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

, aged 30. In the same

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

but the following year, he joined fellow top-tier side F.C. Paços de Ferreira. On 5 May 2013, Silva scored his only goal in the Portuguese top flight, netting through a rare header to help his team defeat

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,

1–0 at home and cling on to a best-ever

third position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented ...

, with the subsequent

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 ...

for 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 ...

. He finished his career in 2015, following a spell with F.C. Penafiel in the same league.

Coaching career

After becoming a manager, Silva worked mainly in the lower leagues or amateur football. The exception to this was late into the 2015–16 season, when he went from assistant to interim at

Académico de Viseu F.C. Académico de Viseu Futebol Clube, commonly known as Académico de Viseu, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Viseu. Founded in 1914 as ''Clube Académico de Futebol'', the club went through several changes ...

after Ricardo Chéu was dismissed by the second division club. In October 2019, Silva left Chaves' youths and joined his compatriot Toni Conceição's staff at the Cameroon national team, as a video analyst. He then had a brief assistant spell with Paços de Ferreira. Silva was appointed at C.D.C. Montalegre in the fourth tier on 23 June 2023. He resigned the following March, after a 3–0 away loss to

F.C. Tirsense Futebol Clube Tirsense, commonly known as just Tirsense, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Santo Tirso, founded on 5 January 1938. They currently play in the Divisão de Elite of AF Porto. They currently play their home ga ...

that left them in seventh place. Silva returned to Romania and its top flight on 31 March 2024, signing for FC Politehnica Iași who were to take part in the play-out round.

Honours

CFR Cluj *

: 2007–08, 2009–10 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Anthony Da 1980 births Living people French sportspeople of Portuguese descent Sportspeople from Le Creusot 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen 21st-century French sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers French men's footballers Footballers from Saône-et-Loire Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players G.D.R.C. Os Sandinenses players G.D. Chaves players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Vitória S.C. players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players F.C. Penafiel players Liga I players CFR Cluj players Portuguese expatriate men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania French expatriate sportspeople in Romania Portuguese football managers French football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Académico de Viseu F.C. managers Liga I managers FC Politehnica Iași (2010) managers Portuguese expatriate football managers French expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cameroon French expatriate sportspeople in Cameroon F.C. Paços de Ferreira non-playing staff