Marco Ferreira

Marco Ferreira

Personal information
Full name	Marco Júlio Castanheira Afonso Alves Ferreira
Date of birth	(1978-03-12) 12 March 1978
Place of birth	Vimioso, Portugal
Height
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
1988–1989	GD Parada
1989–1992	Bragança
1994–1996	Águia Vimioso
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1997	Tirsense	17	(2)
1997	Atlético Madrid B	4	(0)
1998	Yokohama Flügels
1998–1999	Paços Ferreira	19	(0)
1999–2002	Vitória Setúbal	89	(14)
2003–2005	Porto	23	(3)
2004–2005	→ Vitória Guimarães (loan)	21	(3)
2005	→ Penafiel (loan)	7	(1)
2006–2008	Benfica	5	(0)
2007	→ Leicester City (loan)	0	(0)
2008	→ Belenenses (loan)	6	(0)
2008–2010	Ethnikos Piraeus	32	(5)
Total		223	(28)
International career
2002	Portugal	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Marco Júlio Castanheira Afonso Alves Ferreira (born 12 March 1978) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a winger.

He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 127 games and 15 goals over the course of eight seasons, representing mainly in the competition Vitória de Setúbal and Porto. He also played professionally in Spain, Japan, England and Greece.

Club career

Primarily known for his speed, Ferreira was born in Vimioso in the Bragança District, and started his career at F.C. Tirsense in the second division. In 1998 he moved to Atlético Madrid B, but only lasted a few months in Spain, finishing the season at Yokohama Flügels in the J. League Division 1.

Ferreira would go on to represent F.C. Paços de Ferreira – also in his country's second level – where he was a key player, spending the following three 1/2 seasons at Primeira Liga club Vitória de Setúbal. In January 2003 he joined FC Porto, being part of the José Mourinho-led squad that defeated Celtic in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup final, coming on as a substitute for Capucho in the 98th minute. He also featured in several UEFA Champions League matches in the following campaign, but was not selected for the team that won the decisive match, and also added two consecutive league championships during his time with the northerners, wearing jersey No. 78 due to his birthyear.

After that, Ferreira was loaned to Vitória de Guimarães for 2004–05. In the following year he made the same move, now to F.C. Penafiel, but was released in January 2006 and promptly signed with S.L. Benfica, until June 2009; while in Lisbon he was unable to establish himself as a first-team player, and was placed on the transfer list.

On 31 August 2007 Ferreira joined English side Leicester City on loan until the end of the year, but his contract was terminated in December after becoming unsettled in the country, making no senior appearances for the club(he was an unused substitute in a 3–2 League Cup win over Nottingham Forest on 18 September). Subsequently, he finished the campaign with C.F. Os Belenenses, also appearing very rarely.

In August 2008, Ferreira signed with modest Ethnikos Piraeus FC. He spent 18 months at the Greek second division club, being released and retiring at the age of 32.

International career

Ferreira's debut for Portugal came in a friendly with Tunisia on 12 October 2002, playing six minutes after taking the place of Luís Figo. He went on to gain a further two caps during that year.

Honours

Porto

• UEFA Champions League: 2003–04
• UEFA Cup: 2002–03
• Primeira Liga: 2002–03, 2003–04
• Taça de Portugal: 2002–03
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2003

External links

• Marco Ferreira at footballzz.co.uk
• Marco Ferreira profile at ForaDeJogo
• Marco Ferreira at National-Football-Teams.com