Rui Manuel Magalhães Casaca (born 18 October 1959) 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 a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, and is the

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

at S.C. Braga.

Football career

Born in

Marco de Canaveses Marco de Canaveses () is a city and municipality on Porto district, in northern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 53,450, in an area of 201.89 km2. The city itself had a population of 9,042 in 2001. Geography The city of Marco Canaveses i ...

Porto District The Districts of Portugal, District of Porto ( ) is located on the north-west coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Porto, the second largest city in the country. It is bordered by the Aveiro (district), Aveiro and Viseu (distric ...

, Casaca started playing in the lower leagues with Merelinense F.C. and C.A. Valdevez, helping the latter team promote to the Segunda Liga in 1981. Starting in the following year and until his retirement, he competed solely 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 ...

, with Rio Ave F.C. and Boavista FC. In the 1985–86 season, Casaca scored a career-best four goals from 28 appearances to help Boavista finish in fifth position, with the subsequent

qualification 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 ...

. He retired in June 1994 at the age of 34, amassing top division totals of 305 matches and 18 goals, and immediately joined his main club's coaching staff; in January 1997 he was named interim manager, collecting one point in his two games in charge. From 1997 to 2006, Casaca acted as

of Boavista and C.F. Os Belenenses, also being assistant to manager Manuel José at both sides. On 31 July 2007, in the same capacity, he returned to S.C. Braga where he had already occupied the position, and went on to remain there for several years.

Honours

Player

Boavista *

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 ...

: 1991–92 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Casaca, Rui 1959 births Living people People from Marco de Canaveses Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Merelinense F.C. players Rio Ave F.C. players Boavista F.C. players Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Boavista F.C. managers Footballers from Porto District 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen