Manoel Lourenço da Silva Filho (born 2 February 1978), known simply as Manoel, is a Brazilian retired

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 ...

who played as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Football career

Born in

Feira de Santana Feira de Santana (; Portuguese for "Saint Anne's Fair") is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It is the second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 619,609 according to IBGE's estimate in 2020. It is located 100 km northwest of Salvad ...

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...

, Manoel started his professional career with

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

. In January 1999 he moved abroad and signed for

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, wh ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, but returned shortly after to his country. Manoel would spend the following seven years in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, playing for

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 * Steven Vitória ...

Gil Vicente FC Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

(scoring ten

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

goals in the 2002–03 season as the Barcelos club finished eighth) and

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador ...

. In the 2005 summer he joined

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foo ...

, but was immediately loaned to Vitória Guimarães and never appeared officially for the ''Lions''; during his spell with the Minho side he failed to find the net in the league, in an eventual relegation-ending campaign. After starting 2006–07 with

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

, also in the top flight, Manoel left Portugal and returned to his country, with lowly

Clube de Regatas Brasil Clube de Regatas Brasil, commonly referred to as CRB, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Maceió, Alagoas. It competes in the Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, as well as in the Campeonato Alagoano, the top fl ...

. In the following years he moved teams – and continents – constantly, playing for teams in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

, China and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

External links

* 1978 births Living people Brazilian footballers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Sport Club Internacional players Esporte Clube Bahia players Clube de Regatas Brasil players PSV Eindhoven players Primeira Liga players Vitória S.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players Moreirense F.C. players Sporting CP footballers C.F. Os Belenenses players China League One players Shanghai Shenxin F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players OFC Vihren Sandanski players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Bahrain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Saad Esporte Clube players Footballers from Bahia People from Feira de Santana {{Brazil-footy-forward-1970s-stub