Paulo Sérgio Martinho Cabral (born 24 June 1972) is a Portuguese former professional

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 either a right or left back.

Club career

Born in

Vila Nova de Cerveira Vila Nova de Cerveira () is a municipality in the district of Viana do Castelo in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 8,923, in an area of 108.47 km2. The municipal holiday is October 1. Parishes Administratively, the municipality is divid ...

Viana do Castelo District The Viana do Castelo District ( ) is a district located in the northwest of Portugal, bordered on the north by Spain ( Galicia) and on the south by Braga District. It has an area of and a population of 252,011 (2006), for a density of 111.8 inha ...

, Cabral started his senior career with local

SC Vianense Sport Clube Vianense, commonly known as Vianense, is a Portuguese football club based in Viana do Castelo in the district of Viana do Castelo. SC Vianense currently plays in the Liga 3. The club was founded in 1898 and is one of the oldest cl ...

, promoting to the third division in his first year and playing two full seasons with the first team overall. After one year in amateur football he went straight to the

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 ...

for 1994–95, with

F.C. Tirsense Futebol Clube Tirsense, commonly known as just Tirsense, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Santo Tirso, founded on 5 January 1938. They currently play in the Divisão de Elite of AF Porto. They currently play their home ga ...

, but his league input consisted of 24 minutes of action. In the summer of 1995, Cabral returned to the third level with

F.C. Vizela Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese professional association football, football club that plays in Liga Portugal 2, the second tier of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Vizela and play in the Estádio do Futebol Clube de Viz ...

. Subsequently, as first-choice, he spent three seasons in division two with Tirsense, C.D. Aves and

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply 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 19,856 ...

, appearing in 31 matches for the latter club (one goal) in the 1998–99 campaign as it achieved top-flight promotion. Cabral continued to be an undisputed starter with the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

side in the following two seasons, which attracted the attention of neighbouring

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

. He played 13 league games in his first year but soon fell out of favour, returning to Belenenses for a further year where he featured sparingly due to injuries, and retiring in June 2005 at the age of 33.

International career

On 15 November 2000, Cabral earned his first – and only –

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

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 ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Carlos Secretário Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Secretário (born 12 May 1970) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played mainly as a right-back, currently a manager. In a 17-year career, in which he appeared in 341 Primeira Liga games and scored 12 ...

for the final ten minutes of a 2–1 friendly win over

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Paulo 1972 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players SC Vianense players G.D. Joane players F.C. Tirsense players F.C. Vizela players C.D. Aves players C.F. Os Belenenses players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players Portugal men's international footballers Footballers from Viana do Castelo District