Ricardo André de Pinho Sousa (born 11 January 1979) is a Portuguese football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He amassed

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

totals of 154 matches and 47 goals over seven seasons, representing in the competition

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

, Santa Clara,

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os 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 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

and Boavista. He scored the only goal of the 1999

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of 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 Placard since the 2015–16 seas ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

for Beira-Mar, and also competed professionally in Germany, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Slovenia. Sousa began coaching in 2015, leading clubs including Beira-Mar and taking

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. ...

to the cup semi-finals in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

Playing career

Club

Sousa was born in

São João da Madeira São João da Madeira (), is a city and a municipality in northwestern region of the Portuguese Norte region. It's part of the larger Porto Metropolitan Area, located 30 km from central Porto. The population in 2011 was 21,713. With an area ...

. Growing up as a footballer in

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, 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 football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Por ...

, he would play only three games for its first team – a 0–0

draw against

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

and two

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

appearances, twice as a substitute – and went on to represent

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

, where he made his top-division debut in the second part of the 1998–99 season, Santa Clara and

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os 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 25,000-seat Estádio do Rest ...

in consecutive loans; on 16 June 1999, he scored arguably the most important goal of his career as the Aveiro club defeated S.C. Campomaiorense 1–0 to

win Win or WIN may refer to: * A victory Arts and entertainment Film * '' Win!'', a 2016 American film Literature * ''Win'' (Coben novel), a 2121 novel by Harlan Coben * WIN (pacifist magazine), published by the War Resisters League * WIN (wrest ...

the

. Sousa was finally released by Porto in July 2002, returning to Beira-Mar and representing

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

in the following campaign. He netted 14 times for a team that only achieved 32, one of the worst records in that year's top flight. Subsequently, Sousa left Boavista, signing for three years with German club

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betw ...

, during which time he spent the second half of the 2004–05 on loan to

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium ...

of the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

and the whole of the 2006–07 season in the Portuguese top tier with Boavista, also on loan. In summer 2007, Sousa joined

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus official ...

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia ("Harmony"; also trans ...

. The following January, he returned to Germany and joined

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Kickers, also known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs in ...

, starting in all 16 appearances he made and providing five assists in an eventual

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

. Sousa split the 2008–09 campaign in Segunda Liga, starting with Beira-Mar and signing for

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

in January 2009. After contributing only four matches and 138 minutes to the latter's return to the he division, he moved abroad again, now with NK Drava Ptuj in Slovenia. In July 2010, he returned to Portugal's division two with U.D. Oliveirense, before ending his playing career in the lower leagues with

SC São João de Ver SC São João de Ver is a professional association football club based in the parish of São João de Ver, municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, District of Aveiro Aveiro District ( pt, Distrito de Aveiro, or ) is located in the central c ...

and G.D. Gafanha.

International

Sousa represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

at the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams tha ...

, scoring once against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and playing all four matches.

Coaching career

Sousa began coaching in the third tier with

A.D. Sanjoanense Associação Desportiva Sanjoanense is a Portuguese football club based in São João da Madeira São João da Madeira (), is a city and a municipality in northwestern region of the Portuguese Norte region. It's part of the larger Porto Me ...

in 2015; he had left his hometown club as a teenager 18 years earlier. In August 2016, he was hired for one season at Lusitano F.C. in the same league. During his year in

Vila Real de Santo António Vila Real de Santo António (, often run together as ) is a city, civil parish, and municipality in the Algarve, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 19,156, in an area of 61.25 km2. It is one of the few municipalities in Portugal without ter ...

, they won the

Algarve Football Association The Associação de Futebol do Algarve ''(Algarve Football Association)'' is one of the 22 District Football Associations that are affiliated to the Portuguese Football Federation. The AF Algarve administers lower tier football in the distric ...

Cup with a 2–1 victory over

C.D.R. Quarteirense Clube Desportivo e Recreativo Quarteirense, commonly known as Quarteirense, is a Portuguese football club from Quarteira, in the Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area ...

. In June 2017, Sousa returned to his

home district The Home District was one of four districts of the Province of Quebec created in 1788 in the western reaches of the Montreal District and detached in 1791 to create the new colony of Upper Canada. It was abolished with the adoption of the county ...

by joining

Anadia FC Anadia Futebol Clube ''(abbreviated as Anadia FC)'' is a Portuguese football club based in Anadia in the district of Aveiro. Anadia is also a club for field hockey and basketball. Background Anadia FC currently plays in the Campeonato de P ...

, leaving at the turn of the year due to a "new project". This turned out to be at F.C. Felgueiras 1932, where he succeeded Horácio Gonçalves at the fifth-placed side. After play-off elimination by

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

, he signed a new contract in May. Sousa returned to Beira-Mar in June 2019, with the club having just been promoted from the

Aveiro Football Association The Associação de Futebol de Aveiro ''(Aveiro Football Association)'' is one of the 22 District Football Associations that are affiliated to the Portuguese Football Federation. The AF Aveiro administers lower tier football in the district o ...

's district leagues. He left by mutual accord 18 months later, as they eventually went back down. On 16 April 2021, Sousa was hired in his first professional managerial post, taking over at tenth-placed C.D. Mafra in the second division after the resignation of Filipe Cândido. He debuted two days later in a goalless draw at Oliveirense. In his first full season, he guided his team to the quarter-finals of the national cup for the first time, with a 3–1 home defeat of top-flight

Moreirense F.C. Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho Province, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home gam ...

with one man fewer. In the next round, they ousted

Portimonense S.C. Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It al ...

of the same tier with a 4–2 away win.

Personal life

Sousa was the son of another footballer – and midfielder –

António Sousa António Augusto Gomes de Sousa (; born 28 April 1957) is a Portuguese former football central midfielder and manager. During his career he played, among others, for Porto and Sporting, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 483 matches and 83 g ...

, who played club football in the 1980s for Porto and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

, also being a mainstay with the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

during that decade. After retiring, he went on to have a lengthy spell in management, coaching Ricardo at Beira-Mar in four different stints (1998–99, 2000–01, 2002–03 and 2008). His son

Afonso Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

was also involved in the sport, and they were also related to fellow footballer José Sousa.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Ricardo 1979 births Living people People from São João da Madeira Sportspeople from Aveiro District Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players A.D. Sanjoanense players FC Porto players S.C. Beira-Mar players C.D. Santa Clara players FC Porto B players C.F. Os Belenenses players Boavista F.C. players U.D. Leiria players U.D. Oliveirense players SC São João de Ver players G.D. Gafanha players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Hannover 96 players Kickers Offenbach players Eredivisie players De Graafschap players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players Slovenian PrvaLiga players NK Drava Ptuj players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Slovenia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers S.C. Beira-Mar managers