Valdo Cândido Filho (born 12 January 1964), simply known as Valdo, is a Brazilian former

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 a current manager of Congo national football team. In a senior career which spanned more than two decades, he played professionally – other than in his own country – in Portugal, France and Japan. Having appeared more than 40 times for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, Valdo represented the nation in two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and as many

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

tournaments.

Club career

Born in Siderópolis, Santa Catarina, Valdo began playing football with

Figueirense Futebol Clube Figueirense Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Figueirense, is a Brazilian professional club based in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina founded on 12 June 1921. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian f ...

, making his professional debuts with Grêmio Football Porto-Alegrense, with which he won four consecutive Rio Grande do Sul Leagues. In the summer of 1988 he signed with S.L. Benfica of Portugal alongside compatriot

Ricardo Gomes Ricardo Gomes Raymundo (born 13 December 1964) is a Brazilian retired professional footballer and manager. As a player, he played as a central defender, in a 14-year professional career, for Fluminense (six years), Benfica (four) and Par ...

, a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Both were important elements in their debut season as the team won 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 ...

championship, a feat which was again accomplished in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, with the midfielder netting five goals in 26 matches. Both Valdo and Gomes left for

Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. With 52 major trophies ...

in the 1991 summer, and both would return four years later to the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

side, having won a total of four titles, including the 1993–94 edition of the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

. In his second Benfica spell, he played in 30 league matches in each of his two seasons, winning the

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 ...

in 1996. Aged 32, Valdo joined

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

club

Nagoya Grampus Eight ; formerly known as is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, and have for all but one season since the inauguration of the league, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture an ...

, and returned to his country after two slow years. He would continue to play until the age of 40, representing six teams in quick succession (he ended his career after having helped

Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas (; ''Botafogo Football and Rowing'') is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighborhood of Botafogo, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Although it competes in a number of different sports, Botafogo is mostly known ...

achieve its return to the Série A). Valdo began working as a manager in 2009, in Brazilian amateur football. Five years later, he rejoined his former Benfica boss Artur Jorge at

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger (), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home stadium, Ali La Pointe Stadium, has a capacit ...

from Algeria.

International career

Valdo earned 45

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Brazil national team, during six years. Before having made his first appearance he was called to the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

squad, but did not play one single second. In the 1990 edition in Italy, Valdo was already a starter, and took part in the country's four matches in the tournament, including the round-of-16 1–0 loss against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Personal life

Upon retiring from football, Valdo settled in Portugal with his Portuguese wife. The couple had one daughter, Tatiele, who died in a car accident at only 13.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Grêmio *

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

: 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 Benfica *

: 1988–89, 1990–91 *

: 1995–96; runner-up 1988–89, 1996–97 *

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 ...

: 1989 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

: runner-up 1989–90 Paris Saint-Germain *

: 1993–94 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 1992–93, 1994–95 *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

: 1994–95 Cruzeiro *

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

: 1998 *

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

: 1999 *

Copa Centro-Oeste Copa Centro-Oeste () was a Brazilian football competition contested between Center-West region teams and teams from the Southeastern State Espírito Santo. For one edition, it was also contested by teams from Minas Gerais. Minas Gerais sta ...

: 1999 Brazil *

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

: 1987 * Pre-Olympic tournament: 1987 * Rous Cup: 1987 Individual *

World XI The World XI, also known as the FIFA World Stars, is an association football scratch team consisting of players from various countries. The World XI play one-off games against clubs, national teams, collectives of continental teams. The official ...

: 1990, 1991 * Bola de Prata (Silver Ball): 1998

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdo 1964 births Living people Footballers from Santa Catarina (state) Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Figueirense FC players Grêmio FBPA players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Santos FC players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Esporte Clube Juventude players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Ligue 1 players Paris Saint-Germain FC players J1 League players Nagoya Grampus players Brazil men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players Copa América–winning players Olympic footballers for Brazil Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games gold medalists in football Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Brazilian football managers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Algeria Footballers at the 1987 Pan American Games União Esporte Clube managers Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen