Ricardo Esteves

Ricardo Felipe dos Santos Esteves (born 16 September 1979) is a retired Portuguese footballer. On the right side of the pitch, he could play as either a defender or midfielder.

Ricardo Esteves
Personal information
Full name Ricardo Felipe dos Santos Esteves
Date of birth (1979-09-16) 16 September 1979
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Right back / Midfielder
Youth career
1990–1998 Benfica
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–1999 Oriental 18 (1)
1999–2001 Benfica B 26 (0)
2000 → Vitória Setúbal (loan) 14 (0)
2000 → Alverca (loan) 4 (0)
2001 Benfica 10 (0)
2002 → Braga B (loan) 2 (0)
2002 → Braga (loan) 5 (0)
2002–2004 Nacional 24 (0)
2004 Paços Ferreira 15 (0)
2004–2007 Reggina 30 (2)
2005–2006 → Vicenza (loan) 18 (0)
2007–2008 Marítimo 25 (0)
2008–2010 Asteras Tripoli 24 (0)
2010 Seoul 11 (4)
2010–2011 Marítimo 20 (0)
2012 Dalian Shide 7 (1)
Total 253 (8)
National team
1998–2000 Portugal U20 19 (0)
1999–2000 Portugal U21 7 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He played in 117 Primeira Liga games over the course of seven seasons, representing Vitória de Setúbal, Alverca, Benfica, Braga, Nacional, Paços de Ferreira and Marítimo in the competition. He also competed professionally in four other countries, mainly Italy.

Club career

Esteves was born in Lisbon. After arriving at S.L. Benfica at the age of 11 he moved constantly between the club's first and reserve teams, only appearing in ten games in the Primeira Liga, all in the same season. He was loaned once during his contract, and also had a brief spell with farm team F.C. Alverca.[1]

Released in January 2002, Esteves represented in quick succession S.C. Braga, C.D. Nacional and F.C. Paços de Ferreira. Afterwards, he began an abroad adventure, playing three years in Italy with Reggina Calcio (two) and Vicenza Calcio in both major levels.

Esteves spent the 2007–08 campaign back in his country with C.S. Marítimo, after which he moved again, now to Greece and Asteras Tripoli FC. In January 2010 he was sold to FC Seoul, scoring in his debut against Daejeon Citizen FC.

In June, after four goals and as many assists, Esteves was released. Late in that month he returned to his country and former side Marítimo, which had qualified for the UEFA Europa League.[2]

International career

All youth levels comprised, Esteves won 53 caps for Portugal (no goals). He participated with the under-20s in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Nigeria; in the round of 16 against Japan, as the team had no substitutes left and Sérgio Leite got injured, he played as a goalkeeper for more than one hour, conceding no goals in regulation time in an eventual 4–5 penalty shootout loss (1–1 after 120 minutes).[3]

References
  1. "Proposta de renovação para Ricardo Esteves" [Renewal proposal for Ricardo Esteves]. Record (in Portuguese). 12 August 2000. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. "Ricardo Esteves regressa à ilha" [Ricardo Esteves returns to the island] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 30 May 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  3. "Sub-20: Guardião imprevisto no adeus aos Mundiais" [Under-20: Unexpected goalie in goodbye to World Championships]. Record (in Portuguese). 27 June 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
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