Fernando "Nando" Maria Neves (born 9 June 1978) is a retired

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 ...

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 ...

defender who played for the

Cape Verde national football team The Cape Verde national football team (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ; recognized as Cabo Verde by FIFA) represents Cape Verde in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Cape Verdean Football Federation. ...

Biography

Neves played with

Batuque Batuque may refer to: * Batuque (Brazil), various Afro-Brazilian practices, including music, dance, combat game and religion * Batuque (Cape Verde), a Cape Verdean music and dance genre * Batuque (manga), a Japanese manga series * Batuque (religio ...

of Mindelo in its youth team. He appeared in the Portuguese team of

Amarante FC Amarante Futebol Clube ''(abbreviated as Amarante FC)'' is a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football club based in Amarante, Portugal, Amarante in the district of Porto. Background Amarante FC currently plays in the Campeonato de Po ...

for a season in 1998, after he was a squad member of Portimonense for a season. He was elected the best central defender and the best foreign player of the season 2006-2007 in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, one of the first Cape Verdeans to be honoured, and he has recently signed a contract with a

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

team, Al Sailiya, for the season 2007/2008. In July 2009 he moved to

FC Baník Ostrava FC Baník Ostrava is a professional association football, football club from Ostrava in the Czech Republic. The club competes in the Czech First League, the top tier of Czech football. Founded in 1922 as SK Slezská Ostrava, Baník has won the ...

, he made 54 appearances and scored seven goals. In 2011, he played with

LB Châteauroux La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (), commonly referred to as La Berrichonne or simply Châteauroux, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Châteauroux. The football team is a part of a sports club that consists of seve ...

for two seasons, he appeared 62 time and just scored a goal. He went back to the Czech Republic and played with

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...

for a season, making 18 appearances and scoring no goals. A year later, he played with

FK Příbram FK Příbram is a Czech Republic, Czech professional football club based in Příbram. The club currently plays in the Bohemian Football League (3rd tier). It is the legal successor to Dukla Prague, a club which won 11 national league titles betw ...

also for a season and had 16 appearances and scored a goal, this was his last club appearance.

International career

Neves was a member of the Cape Verde national team in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

. After Cape Verde were eliminated, he received a call-up in August 2009 for a friendly against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and in May 2010 played in the 0–0 draw with

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 ...

. Nando was the Cape Verdean team captain in the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange S.A., Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the Association football, footbal ...

, which marked the first participation for his country in this tournament. His performances throughout the tournament were rewarded by selection into the

Team of the Tournament. His last international match was on February 2, 2013, against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

at the ACN quarter-finals, in which his team were beaten 2-0. After this defeat he announced his immediate retirement from the national team.

Honours

;Grasshoppers *

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

: 2002–03 Individual * Championnat de Tunisie Best Central Defender: 2006–07 * Championnat de Tunisie Best Foreign Player: 2006–07 *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Team of the Tournament:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nando 1978 births Living people Footballers from Praia Footballers from Santiago, Cape Verde Cape Verdean men's footballers Cape Verde men's international footballers 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players Men's association football defenders Batuque FC players Amarante F.C. players Portimonense S.C. players US Monastir (football) players Al-Sailiya SC players FC Baník Ostrava players LB Châteauroux players SK Slavia Prague players FK Příbram players Cape Verdean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in France Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in France Czech First League players Ligue 2 players Qatar Stars League players