José Carlos de Araújo Nunes (born 7 March 1977) 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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender 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 ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 129 games and two goals over five seasons, representing Salgueiros, Gil Vicente and

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

. He spent most of his professional career, however, with

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

in Spain, signing in 2006 and appearing in 258 official matches in eight

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

campaigns.

Club career

Born in Castelo de Paiva,

Aveiro District Aveiro District (, ) is located in the central coastal region of Portugal. The capital of the district is the city of Aveiro, which also serves as the seat of Aveiro Municipality. Aveiro District is bordered by the Porto District to the north, ...

, Nunes began his professional career with modest clubs in the

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

and third divisions. He made his

debut in the 2001–02 season, with soon-to-be-extinct S.C. Salgueiros. After two solid seasons with Gil Vicente FC, Nunes signed with fellow top-flight side S.C. Braga in July 2004, moving in January 2006 to Spain's

with

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

. He made his debut for his new team on the 29th, starting in a 0–3 home loss to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and adding four league goals in his first full campaign in the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

. An undisputed starter from his arrival – he was also awarded

captaincy A captaincy ( , , ) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish colonies, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule admin ...

early on– Nunes continued to figure prominently in 2009–10 as Mallorca won their first ten home league games of the season, with the player scoring twice, although one of those came in the 4–2 defeat at Barcelona. Eventually, he netted four times in 34 matches, and the club achieved a fifth place in the table (fourth until the last minute of the last round). Nunes suffered a serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury in a friendly with

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

in mid-August 2011, initially being sidelined for seven months but recovering in less than four. He still contributed two goals in 14 appearances during the campaign, helping Mallorca to finish eighth.Puntuaciones del Mallorca 2011/2012 (Mallorca grades 2011/2012)

Vavel Vavel (stylized VAVEL) is a Spain-based sports news website. It has 8 editions; Spain, United States, United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, and Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country p ...

, 18 May 2012 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Jose 1977 births Living people People from Castelo de Paiva Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Aveiro District Men's association football central defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players A.D. Ovarense players F.C. Maia players S.C. Salgueiros players Gil Vicente F.C. players S.C. Braga players La Liga players Segunda División players RCD Mallorca players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain