João Paulo de Castro Silva Bessa (born

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, 25 April 1947) is a Portuguese architect, journalist and a former rugby union player and coach. He also played football and tennis.

Career

Bessa begun his Architecture studies at the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes do Porto (ESBAP) and finished it at the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes de Lisboa (ESBAL) in 1973. He first played at CDUP (1965/66-1967/68) but moved then to CDUL (1968/69-1980/81) in Lisbon. He had 5 caps for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, from 1969 to 1974. After ending his playing career, he became a coach. He was the National Team coach from 1983 to 1986 and from 1994 to 1999. He almost achieved the qualification for the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era. Four a ...

finals, but was eliminated by

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

at the repechage. João Paulo Bessa also has been a sports journalist for many Portuguese newspapers.

External links

João Paulo Bessa International StatisticsJoão Paulo Bessa Rugby Blog
1947 births Living people Portuguese rugby union players Portuguese rugby union coaches Portuguese architects Portuguese journalists Portuguese male journalists Sportspeople from Porto {{Portugal-rugbyunion-bio-stub