Daniel Batista Lima (; born 9 September 1964) 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 forward. Born in

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

, he represented

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

internationally. He is the technical director of Ethnikos Piraeus.

Club career

Batista started his football career at the academies of Feyenoord Rotterdam. After a while playing there, a good friend of him who was also a Feyenoord supporter brought him to Greece to follow his career there. Batista played for Ethnikos Piraeus, where he impressed and soon caused the interest of the big clubs of Athens. In the summer of 1989

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

strongly claimed him, but he preferred to sign for

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

. It didn't take long for him to impress at AEK as well. He started very well from his very first season at AEK, even though he had some injuries. Alongside Patikas and Christodoulou, he formed a good trio in the "yellow-black" offense. The following season was not a good one for the team, but Batista again had a very good season, while among other things he also scored the winning goal against Olympiacos. In both of these years, Batista played mainly as a striker, but the arrival of Dimitriadis and Alexandris in the summer of 1991, made Bajević to play Batista behind the two strikers, in order to "fit" all of them in the starting eleven. Batista formed an excellent duo with Dimitriadis in the attack and helped AEK to win the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

, while also having excellent performance in the

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 ...

, scoring at all home games against the likes of Vlaznia Shkodër, Spartak Moscow and

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. In the summer of 1992, with the expiration of his contract and during a period of administrative changes at AEK, he decided to move to Olympiacos, displeasing the people of the "yellow-blacks". In the club of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, he had a good presence, but did not reach the high standards he had at AEK. Nevertheless, he scored multiple times against his former club. In the summer of 1995, he returned to AEK and got an excellent performance again, as he played a big part in winning the

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

, scoring 2 times in the final with

Apollon Athens Apollon Smyrnis Football Club () is a professional football club based in Athens, Greece, which competes in the Athens FCA first division. It is part of GS Apollon Smyrnis (Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Απόλλων Σμύρνης), ...

. The following season was also great, despite facing some injuries, creating an excellent trio in the attack with

Kostis Kostis () is a hypocorism of the Greek name Konstantinos (Constantine (name), Constantine). Notable people with the name include: Given name *Kostis Adosidis Pasha (1818–1895), Prince of Samos *Kostis Chatzidakis (born 1965), Greek politician * ...

and Nikolaidis, in a season where AEK was again crowned cup winner. In AEK he played for another 2 seasons and despite the new injuries contributed to club. With AEK he won 1 championship, 2 cups, 2

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

and 1 League Cup. In the summer of 1999, he was released from the club and moved to

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

. Batista retired in the summer of 2001 at the age of 36.

International career

Batista became a naturalized citizen of Greece and debuted in the Greece national team on 12 October 1994. At the time, he held the distinction of being the only Greek athlete of black ethnicity to achieve this. He played 14 times scoring twice.

Managerial career

After his playing days were over, Batista coached Diagoras, Fostiras, he was the

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

Lamia Lamia (; ), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon". In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with ...

, head coach of AO Nea Ionia, AEK Athens U20, Peramaikos and a technical director of

Niki Volos Niki Volos Football Club () is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Volos, in the region of Magnesia, Greece. The club currently competes in the Super League 2, the second tier of Greek football. History Niki Volos was fou ...

. From the summer of 2021 he is the technical director of Ethnikos Piraeus.

Personal life

Batista's uncle,

Noni Lima Noni Lima (}; born 1 October 1956) is a Cape Verdean football manager and former footballer. Playing career Lima started his career with Greek side Panionios, where he was regarded as one of the club's most important players. International ca ...

was a former footballer who had a successful career in

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

. His nephew and Noni's son,

Konstantinos Konstantinos or Constantinos (Κωνσταντίνος, ''Konstantínos'') is a Greek male given name. * Konstantinos (born 1972), occultist * Konstantinos "Kosta" Barbarouses (born 1990), New Zealand footballer * Konstantinos Chalkias (born ...

is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Honours

AEK Athens *

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 1991–92 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 1995–96, 1996–97 *

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup (), formerly known as the Friendship and Solidarity Cup () is a Greek association football one-match competition, which is contested annually either between the champions of the previous Super League Greece season and the hold ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Greek League Cup The Greek League Cup (), officially known as the EPAE Cup () was a Greek association football competition, took place only once, in the 1989–90 season. On 2 June 1990 AEK Athens became the only winner of the institution after winning Olympiaco ...

: 1990 *

Pre-Mediterranean Cup The Pre-Mediterranean Cup () was an association football tournament hosted by the Hellenic Football Federation in Athens. The competition was conducted once, in 1991, and the winner was AEK Athens. In June 1991, the only Pre-Mediterranean cup wa ...

: 1991 Olympiacos *Greek Super Cup:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

References

External links

*
RSSSF – Foreign Players in Greece since 1959/60
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batista Lima, Daniel 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Mindelo Greek men's footballers Greece men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Super League Greece players Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Cape Verdean men's footballers Naturalized citizens of Greece Greek people of Cape Verdean descent AEK Athens F.C. non-playing staff A.O. Nea Ionia F.C. managers PAS Lamia 1964 managers Greek football managers Association football technical directors 20th-century Greek sportsmen