Paulo Jorge da Silva dos Santos (born 11 December 1972) is a Portuguese retired 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 a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He appeared in 275

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 ...

matches over 14 seasons, representing in the competition Benfica,

Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD (), sometimes just Estrela da Amadora, is a Portuguese professional sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. The team is currently competing in the Primeira Liga, after winnin ...

Alverca Alverca do Ribatejo () is a city (''cidade'') and a former civil parish in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Alverca do Ribatejo e Sobralinho. It covers an area of and had a pop ...

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 ...

, Varzim,

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

and

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

. Santos was part of the

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 ...

squad at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

Club career

Born in

Odivelas Odivelas () is a municipality in the Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. The municipality is located 8 km northwest of the center of Lisbon. Predominantly a residential suburb, the population in 2021 was 148 034, in an area of 26.54 km2 (one of t ...

Lisbon metropolitan area The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (; abbreviated as AML) is a metropolitan areas in Portugal, metropolitan area in Portugal centered on Lisbon, the capital and largest city of the country. The metropolitan area, covering 17 List of cities in Portuga ...

, Santos began his football career at age 11 at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, and made his debut in the

in the 1993–94 season, winning the league with capital neighbours

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 " ...

by playing one minute in the last game.Jogou nos grandes, foi ao Mundial e aposta em marketing de rede (He played for the giants, went to the World Cup and bets on net marketing)
Mais Futebol, 11 June 2020 (in Portuguese) After successful stints with

C.F. Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD (), sometimes just Estrela da Amadora, is a Portuguese professional sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. The team is currently competing in the Primeira Liga, after winnin ...

and

F.C. Alverca Futebol Clube de Alverca is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Alverca do Ribatejo, Vila Franca de Xira. It currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2. History F.C. Alverca was founded on 1 September 1939. After many decades i ...

, he went on to represent

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

with no significant impact. Santos joined

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

in summer 2005 after serving a loan stint with the same team the previous campaign. During that

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

– with the

Minho Minho or Miño may refer to: People * Miño (surname) * Choi Min-ho, South Korean singer and actor known mononymously as Minho Places * Minho (river) or Miño, in Portugal and Spain Jamaica * Rio Minho, a river Portugal * Minho Province ...

side finishing fourth – when

Andrés Madrid Andrés David Madrid (born 29 July 1981) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and is a current manager. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal, mainly with Braga. Football career Born in Mar del ...

deflected the ball in for an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

, he was beaten for the first time in 595 minutes, just 40 short of the record set by Benfica's

Manuel Bento Manuel Galrinho Bento (25 June 1948 – 1 March 2007) was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Bento was best known for his 20-year spell at Benfica, having retired well into his 40s after appearing in nearly 650 o ...

; in the only other time he had conceded until that point,

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

claimed the away goal that ended the Portuguese's campaign in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

at the first round for the second year running. In 2007–08, mainly due to injury problems, Santos only appeared in 12 league matches. He was released in December 2008 following a contract dispute,Paulo Santos liberta-se do Sp. Braga: «Sinto-me um jovem» (Paulo Santos cuts ties with Sp. Braga: "I feel young")
Mais Futebol, 19 December 2008 (in Portuguese) although he had a link running until June 2009. Midway through 2008–09, Santos spent time training with lowly

Odivelas F.C. Odivelas Futebol Clube is a sporting association in the city of Odivelas, in Greater Lisbon. It was founded in 1939 and has three football fields a gymnasium and other facilities. Odivelas F.C has won the Third Division in 1993. At youth level O ...

in the third division in order to stay fit. In July he "upgraded" to the second with

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese professional sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its Association football, football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home g ...

, appearing regularly to help his team to retain their league status. On 12 July 2010, at nearly 38, Santos moved to top-tier club

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

, filling the gap left by the departure of starter Carlos Fernandes, who had moved to

Bucaspor Bucaspor was a professional Turkish Association football, football club based in Buca, İzmir. Formed in 1928, Bucaspor were nicknamed Fırtına (Storm). The club colours were yellow and navy. It was dissolved in 2020. History Bucaspor was the ...

in Turkey. He retired two years later, having been first choice in his debut campaign.

International career

Santos won one cap for the Portugal national team, appearing in a friendly with

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 15 November 2005 (1–1 in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

). He was called up to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

tournament, as a late replacement for the injured

Bruno Vale Bruno Miguel Esteves do Vale (born 8 April 1983) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his career in Cyprus with Apollon Limassol after being brought up at Porto, appearing in more than 300 ...

. During the group stage game against

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

for the

1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship The 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the third edition of the tournament, was held in the Scottish cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Motherwell, Aberdeen, and Dundee between 10 and 24 June 1989. Players born after 1 August 1972 could participate in ...

, Santos dropped his shorts to the crowd after being subjected to insults, being immediately suspended from the tournament and later banned by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

for one year.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Santos worked in the area of food supplements.

Honours

Benfica *

: 1993–94 Portugal *

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Individual *Primeira Liga Goalkeeper of the Year: 2006 Orders *Medal of Merit,

Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa The Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (also known as The Royal Military Order of Our Lady of the Conception of Vila Viçosa; ) is a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Braganza, the former Portuguese Royal Family. The cur ...

(

House of Braganza The Most Serene House of Braganza (), also known as the Brigantine dynasty (''dinastia Brigantina''), is a dynasty of emperors, kings, princes, and dukes of Portuguese people, Portuguese origin which reigned in Europe and the Americas. The hous ...

)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Paulo 1972 births Living people People from Odivelas Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football goalkeepers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players U.R. Mirense players C.D. Olivais e Moscavide players S.L. Benfica footballers F.C. Penafiel players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players F.C. Alverca players FC Porto players FC Porto B players Varzim S.C. players S.C. Braga players G.D. Estoril Praia players Rio Ave F.C. players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players