Rui Manuel Guerreiro Nobre Esteves (born 30 January 1967) 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 le ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. 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 93 matches and five goals during five seasons, in representation of

Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club wi ...

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória (b ...

, Benfica and

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 Reste ...

Playing career

Born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Esteves started playing professionally at the age of 18, representing several teams in the Portuguese second division, most of them hailing from the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

region:

S.C.U. Torreense Sport Clube União Torreense is a Portuguese sports club, best known for its association football section, founded in Torres Vedras in 1917, as Sport União Torreense. History It participated six times in the Portuguese Liga (last in 1991–92 ...

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

and Louletano DC. His

debut occurred in the 1990–91 season, but he appeared just six times for

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 ...

and resumed his career in the second level, representing old acquaintances Louletano and Torreense. Late in 1994, after having helped

finish sixth in the top flight, Esteves earned himself a transfer to S.L. Benfica, but never settled with his hometown club, playing for a third side in the campaign as he was loaned to England's

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, although his only match for Blues was a 45 minute appearance in the Auto Windscreens Shield against Leyton Orient. He returned to Portugal in the following summer, spending two years with Benfica neighbours

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 ...

also in the top tier, and closed out his career at 33 after spells in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, with K-League's

Daewoo Royals Busan IPark ( ko, 부산 아이파크) is a South Korean professional association football, football club based in Busan that competes in K League 2, the second tier of the Football in South Korea, South Korean football pyramid. Its current home gr ...

and in the

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese, commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Associ ...

with Beijing Guoan FC.

Coaching career

Esteves began working as a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

in 2001, starting with Associação Desportiva Fazendense and going on to be in charge of

Grupo Desportivo Alcochetense Grupo Desportivo Alcochetense is a Portuguese football club located in Alcochete, Portugal. Alcochetense was founded on 1 January 1937, by local football supporters. Colours and badge Alcochetense's colours are green and white, inspired by Sp ...

and

C.D. Olivais e Moscavide Clube Desportivo dos Olivais e Moscavide is a centenary club located in the eastern area of Lisbon that distinguishes itself in practice in different levels of football, basketball, American Football and Table Football, in addition to developing ...

in the following two years. In December 2008 he was appointed at

G.D. Fabril Grupo Desportivo Fabril is a Portuguese sports club established as Grupo Desportivo CUF do Barreiro (commonly known as CUF Barreiro), with CUF standing for the company Companhia União Fabril. A multisports club best known for its football sect ...

, and never managed in higher than division three.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteves, Rui 1967 births Living people Footballers from Lisbon Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.C.U. Torreense players S.C. Olhanense players Louletano D.C. players S.C. Farense players Vitória F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers C.F. Os Belenenses players Birmingham City F.C. players K League 1 players Busan IPark players Beijing Guoan F.C. players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in South Korea Expatriate footballers in China Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in China Portuguese football managers S.U. Sintrense managers F.C. Maia managers S.C. Farense managers