Nilton Rogério Cardoso Fernandes (7 March 1979 – 31 March 2024), known simply as Nilton, was a

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 ...

an 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

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 ...

. He spent most of his career in Portugal, amassing

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 110 matches and one goal with four teams.

Club career

Born in the island of Brava, Nilton played youth football with Portuguese club

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Estádio do Bessa. It is one of the oldest clubs ...

, who loaned him to

Gondomar S.C. Gondomar Sport Club is a Portuguese football club based in Gondomar, Porto District. Founded on 1 May 1921, it currently plays in the fourth-tier Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at '' Estádio de São Miguel'', with a capacity of 2. ...

and

AD Esposende Associação Desportiva de Esposende ''(abbreviated as AD Esposende)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Esposende in the district of Braga. Background AD Esposende currently plays in the Terceira Divisão Série A which is the fourth ti ...

to kickstart his senior career. Upon his return, he appeared in 12

games in the 1999–2000 season, helping to a fourth-place finish. In the following years, Nilton alternated between the top division and the Segunda Liga, representing C.D. Aves (where he scored his first goal, contributing to a 3–2 home win against C.F. Estrela da Amadora on 13 May 2001 as his team was eventually

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

Gil Vicente FC Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Barcelos. It plays their home matches at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the ...

F.C. Marco Futebol Clube do Marco was a Portugal, Portuguese Association football, football team based in Marco de Canaveses Municipality, Marco de Canaveses, Porto District. Founded in 1927, it held home games at ''Estádio Municipal do Marco de Canaveses, ...

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Its most well-known department is its football department but the multi-sport ...

and F.C. Penafiel. He left the country in the summer of 2006, scoring a career-best six goals for

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian First League, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. They won the Sl ...

and

winning Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * Winning (film), ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * ''Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Fo ...

the

Slovenian Football Cup The Slovenian Football Cup (, ) is the top knockout tournament of Slovenian football and the second most important football competition in Slovenia after the Slovenian PrvaLiga championship. The cup was established in 1991 following the breakup o ...

. From 2007 until his retirement five years later, aged 33, Nilton played for

Ethnikos Achna FC Ethnikos Achna Football Club (), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot professional football club based in the village of Dasaki Achnas. Founded in 1968, the club currently plays in the Cypriot First Division. Ethn ...

(Cyprus),

NK Maribor Nogometni klub Maribor () is a Slovenian professional Association football, football club based in Maribor, Slovenia. It competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of the Football in Slovenia#League system, Slovenian football league system ...

(Slovenia),

PFC Chernomorets Burgas PSFC Chernomorets Burgas () or simply Chernomorets () was a Bulgarian football club from the city of Burgas. The club never won any major competition, its most notable achievement being a second-place finish in the UEFA Intertoto Cup competitio ...

(Bulgaria),

Akritas Chlorakas Akritas Chlorakas () is a Cypriot football club based in Chloraka, Paphos. The club was founded in 1971 and currently plays in the Cypriot Second Division. Akritas' colours are green and white, and they play their home games at the Chloraka M ...

(

Cypriot Second Division The Cypriot Second Division () is the second highest association football, football division of the Cypriot football league system. Administered by the Cyprus Football Association, it is contested by 16 teams, with the top three teams being Prom ...

) and Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam FC ( Israeli second level). On March 31, 2024, Nilton Fernandes died from kidney cancer while in the United States.

Honours

Koper *

: 2006–07 Maribor *

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

: 2008–09

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilton Fernandes 1979 births Living people People from Brava, Cape Verde Cape Verdean men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Boavista F.C. players Gondomar S.C. players A.D. Esposende players C.D. Aves players Gil Vicente F.C. players F.C. Marco players S.C. Salgueiros players F.C. Penafiel players Slovenian PrvaLiga players FC Koper players NK Maribor players Cypriot First Division players Cypriot Second Division players Ethnikos Achna FC players Akritas Chlorakas players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PSFC Chernomorets Burgas players Liga Leumit players Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam F.C. players Cape Verde men's international footballers Cape Verdean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Cape Verdean expatriate sportspeople in Israel