Pedro Manuel Valido Franco (born 13 March 1970) is a Portuguese 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Currently, he is an assistant coach for

Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B" (), commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play ...

Liga Portugal 2 The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pr ...

. Starting out in the youth teams of Benfica, he amassed a total of 1 goal in 150 games in 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 ...

over the course of a career with eight different clubs. Valido earned 26

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

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 ...

from under-18 to under-21 level, winning the 1989 World Championship with the under-20 side.

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Valido started playing football as an 11-year-old at local Desportivo Domingos Sávio, finishing his development at

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 " ...

. In 1988, he joined

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 ...

on a loan deal, going on to spend one season in the Segunda Liga. It was followed by loans to

Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of Portuguese football. Their chairma ...

and

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

. During his spell at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Ben ...

, Valido only appeared once in the

( four competitive games), facing stiff competition from Rui Bento,

Paulo Madeira Paulo Sérgio Braga Madeira (born 6 September 1970) is a Portuguese former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender. Club career Madeira was born in Luanda, Po ...

and Wiliam. Prior to his release in June 1992, he was also loaned to fellow league clubs

C.D. Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese association football, football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of football in ...

and

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 ...

. Valido then signed with

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

, contributing 30 appearances and one goal in his first year and helping the

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

ns to

qualify Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

to 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 ...

for the first time in their history. He subsequently became a journeyman, appearing for four teams in the top division before dropping down to the third level in 1999 and

the fourth ''The Fourth'' () is a 1972 Soviet drama film directed by Aleksandr Stolper. The film tells the story of an American journalist who has to make a difficult choice: publicize the plans of supporters of the war after having lost all his life's ben ...

in 2003. Valido retired in 2005, at the age of 35. He returned to Benfica two years later, working as assistant manager in several youth sides while also becoming a

sports pundit A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the sports commentator#Main/play-by-play commentator, main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be re ...

Benfica TV Benfica TV (BTV) is a Portuguese sports-oriented premium cable and satellite television channel operated by sports club S.L. Benfica. Its headquarters are located at the Estádio da Luz, having a second studio at Benfica Campus. Its first b ...

International career

Valido was part of the Portugal squad that appeared at the

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta' ...

, held in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. He played in every minute in every game in what turned out to be a conquest, featuring alongside Benfica teammates Fernando Brassard, Madeira,

Abel Silva Abel Jorge Pereira da Silva (born 21 August 1969), sometimes known as just Abel, is a Portuguese former footballer. One of the players who scored (both editions combined) goals in Portugal's two consecutive U-20 World Cup triumphs, the right ...

and

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli. Starting his career ...

. Valido made his debut for the under-21s on 25 April 1989.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valido, Pedro 1970 births Living people Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica footballers G.D. Estoril Praia players C.D. Feirense players Gil Vicente F.C. players C.S. Marítimo players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players F.C. Tirsense players C.F. Os Belenenses players F.C. Felgueiras players F.C. Alverca players Amora F.C. players Atlético Clube de Portugal players Seixal F.C. players GD Beira-Mar players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese football managers