Jaime da Silva Graça (; 30 January 1942 – 28 February 2012) was a Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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

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Club career

Born in

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

, Graça made his professional – and

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 with local Vitória Futebol Clube, appearing in nearly 150 official games over five seasons and helping the '' Sadinos'' to three

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

finals during his spell. In summer 1966, after totalling 28 goals in his last two seasons with Vitória, he signed with S.L. Benfica, where he would win seven national championships and three Portuguese Cups, playing 229 matches in all competitions (29 goals). He equalised the

1967–68 European Cup The 1967–68 European Cup was the 13th European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Manchester United, who beat Benfica 4–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London. The European Cup title marked the tent ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, a 4–1

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

loss against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. On 5 December 1966, Benfica's new hydro massage bath short-circuited with seven players immersed.

Luciano Fernandes Luciano Jorge Fernandes (6 August 1940 – 5 December 1966) was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender. Club career Born in Olhão, Algarve, Luciano started out ...

was electrocuted before Graça – an

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by trade before he became a professional footballer – could save himself and the others, and the team played the rest of that season in black. After featuring rarely during his latter years at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Ben ...

, the 33-year-old Graça returned to his first club, retiring from the game in 1977 with Portuguese top-flight (the only division he competed in) totals of 303 matches and 55 goals. He was in charge of C.D. Santa Clara as the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

side were promoted to the Segunda Liga in 1987, but could not prevent relegation the following year.

International career

Graça collected 36

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for the Portugal national team and scored four goals, mostly whilst as a Benfica player. His debut came on 24 January 1965, in a 5–1 home victory over

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for the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

qualifiers. Graça was selected for the final stages in England, appearing in all the games for the eventual third-placed team. He also represented the nation in the Brazilian Independence Cup in 1972, where Portugal lost to hosts

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, in what would be his last international appearance. Graça assisted José Torres in the ill-fated

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 ...

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, marred by the Saltillo Affair.

Death

On 28 February 2012, Graça died at the Lusíadas Hospital in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

after a long battle with illness. He was 70 years old.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Graça goal.''

Honours

Setúbal *

: 1964–65 Benfica *

Primeira Divisão 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 P ...

: 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75 *Taça de Portugal: 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72 * Taça de Honra (3) *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

runner-up: 1967–68 Portugal *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

third place:

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graca, Jaime 1942 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Setúbal Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Vitória F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers G.D. Sesimbra footballers Eléctrico F.C. players Portugal men's international footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers C.D. Santa Clara managers