Germano de Figueiredo

Germano

Personal information
Full name	Germano Luís de Figueiredo
Date of birth	(1932-12-23)23 December 1932
Place of birth	Alcântara, Portugal
Date of death
Place of death	Linda-a-Velha, Portugal
Height
Position(s)	Centre back
Youth career
1947–1951	Atlético
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1951–1960	Atlético
1960–1966	Benfica	75	(4)
1966–1967	Salgueiros
International career
1953–1966	Portugal	24	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Germano Luís de Figueiredo (23 December 1932 – 14 July 2004), known simply as Germano (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒɨɾˈmɐnu]), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a central defender.

He played most of his career with Benfica, appearing in 131 official games and winning eight major titles, including two European Cups.

Germano represented Portugal at the 1966 World Cup. He ranked 53rd in UEFA's 50 Greatest Footballers of the Last 50 Years jubilee list.

Club career

Born in Alcântara (Lisbon), Germano started playing with local Atlético Clube de Portugal, spending seven of his nine seasons in the top division. In the 1960 summer he moved to neighbouring S.L. Benfica, where he remained for the following six years, being a leading defensive unit of the sides that won four national championships and two European Cups (against FC Barcelona and Real Madrid); in the latter competition's 1964–65 edition, he was placed in goal following his teammate's Alberto da Costa Pereira injury in the final against Inter Milan, and kept a clean sheet for more than 30 minutes, albeit in a 0–1 loss.

Germano retired in 1967, after one year with S.C. Salgueiros in the second level. He died in Linda-a-Velha at the age of 71.

International career

Germano played 24 times with Portugal, during thirteen years. He was part of the squad that appeared at the 1966 FIFA World Cup but, after a subpar performance in the second game against Bulgaria, was benched for the rest of the tournament, which ended with a third-place conquest.

Honours

Club

Benfica

• European Cup: 1960–61, 1961–62; Runner-up 1962–63, 1964–65
• Primeira Liga: 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65
• Taça de Portugal: 1961–62, 1963–64; Runner-up 1964–65
• Taça de Honra (2)

Atlético

• Second Division: 1958–59

Country

Portugal

• FIFA World Cup: Third-place 1966

Individual

• World Soccer World XI: 1961, 1962

External links

• Germano at footballzz.co.uk
• Germano profile at ForaDeJogo
• Germano de Figueiredo at National-Football-Teams.com
• Germano – FIFA competition record
• Portugal stats at Eu-Football