Raul Baptista (born 29 July 1911) was a Portuguese

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 half-back. Starting at Barreirense, where he spent seven years, Baptista achieved recognition at Benfica, appearing in nearly 100 games and winning four major titles.

Career

Baptista arrived at Benfica in 1935 after seven seasons with Barreirense. He made his debut on 24 November, against

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 ...

. With competition from João Correia,

Albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

and Gaspar Pinto, he only racked up 9 appearances, two 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 ...

, allowing him to win his first league title. In the following year, he displaced Correia out of the first team and played 25 games on the way to back-to-back league titles. A year later, he completed a championship three-peat as regular first team, playing in all the league games and making 28 appearances in total. In 1938–39, the breakthrough of Francisco Ferreira made a negative impact in his career, and he saw his playing time drop, to just 11 games. However, Baptista recovered his place in the first team in 1939–40, playing 20 games and winning the

1939–40 Taça de Portugal The 1939–40 Taça de Portugal was the second season of the Taça de Portugal (English: ''Portuguese Cup''), the premier Portuguese football knockout competition, organized by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Académica de Coimbra was th ...

. The following year, he only played twice as Alcobia took his place in the starting eleven. He left Benfica with 95 appearances and four major wins.

Honours

Benfica *

Primeira Divisão 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 P ...

: 1935–36, 1936–37, 1937–38 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 1939–40

References

General * Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Baptista, Raul 1911 births Year of death unknown Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players F.C. Barreirense players S.L. Benfica footballers 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen