Vítor Simões da Vinha (born 11 November 1986) 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, currently

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

of Benfica's under-23 team.

Playing career

Club

Vinha was born in

Oliveira de Frades Oliveira de Frades () is a municipality in the district Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the e ...

Viseu District The Districts of Portugal, District of Viseu ( ) is located in the Central Inland of Portugal, the District Capital is the city of Viseu. Municipalities The district is composed by 24 municipalities: * Armamar Municipality, Armamar * Carregal d ...

. He reached Académica de Coimbra's youth system at the age of 13, going on to represent that side, Estrela da Amadora,

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

and

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

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 ...

, and appeared 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 lightweight ...

Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar (), commonly known as Beira-Mar, is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its Association football, football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth natio ...

and Famalicão in the Segunda Liga. In the 2009–10 season, Vinha competed in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

with Nea Salamis Famagusta. In June 2010, he considered the possibility of taking the club to court due to unpaid wages.

International

Vinha won 14

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for Portugal across all youth levels. His only appearance for the under-21 team occurred on 19 August 2008, as he played the full 90 minutes in a 2–3 friendly home loss against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Coaching career

On 7 October 2018, Vinha served as

interim manager Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change wi ...

at his former club Académica after Carlos Pinto had been fired the day before a second-tier match against

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

. Three days later, João Alves, their seventh coach in less than 18 months, was hired. Vinha joined Luís Freire's staff at

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

in December 2020, after having started the season with Académica's under-19s. The pair then spent two years with Rio Ave, achieving promotion to the top flight at the end of the 2021–22 campaign. On 17 June 2024, Vinha replaced Paulo Lopes as head coach of Benfica's under-23 team.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinha, Vitor 1986 births Living people 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Viseu District Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Académica de Coimbra (football) players G.D. Tourizense players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players C.D. Aves players S.C. Olhanense players Gil Vicente F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players F.C. Famalicão players Cypriot First Division players Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Académica de Coimbra (football) managers S.L. Benfica non-playing staff