Sérgio Manuel Ferreira Nunes (born 21 July 1974) is a Portuguese retired

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 a central defender. He amassed Segunda Liga totals of 335 games and 18 goals over 14 seasons, appearing mainly for

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

(eight years). He added 131/5 in the

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, ...

Club career

Born in

Matosinhos Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal () is a city and a municipality in the northern Porto district of Portugal, bordered in the south by the city of Porto (8 km from the city centre). The population in 2011 was 175,478, and covered an area of approx ...

, Nunes spent eight years in local

Leixões SC The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club The Port of Leixões ( pt, P ...

's youth system. He made his debut as a senior for the club in the Segunda Liga, going on to represent in the competition

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

and

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 ...

and helping the latter team promote to the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. Nunes played his first game in the top division on 23 August 1998, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win against

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

. He was subsequently signed by S.L. Benfica on 17 June 1999, but only made 27 appearances all competitions comprised in his two years 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 ...

, serving mainly as back-up to

Paulo Madeira Paulo Sérgio Braga Madeira (born 6 September 1970) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Club career Madeira was born in Luanda, Portuguese Angola. A youth graduate of S.L. Benfica, he made his first- ...

and

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

. On 4 August 2001, Nunes moved to

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 ...

, being relegated from the top flight in his second season. After leaving the Azores he spent a further five campaigns in the second tier, with Aves – with the addition of 2006–07 in the former competition – and

S.C. Freamunde Sport Clube Freamunde is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Freamunde, Paços de Ferreira. Founded on 19 March 1933, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at ...

, retiring at the age of 37.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Sergio 1974 births Living people Footballers from Matosinhos Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Leixões S.C. players C.D. Aves players U.D. Leiria players S.L. Benfica footballers C.D. Santa Clara players S.C. Freamunde players Portugal men's under-21 international footballers