Fernando Meira

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Fernando Meira
Personal information
Full name	Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira
Date of birth	5 June 1978
Place of birth	Guimarães, Portugal
Height	192 cm
Nickname	Fernando Meira
Position	Defender
Club information
Current club	VfB Stuttgart
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1995 - 98 1998 - 99 1999 - 00 2000 - 01 2002 -	Guimarães Felgueiras Guimarães Benfica VfB Stuttgart	22 (0) 33 (0) 30 (2) 46 (2) 116 (5)
National team**
2000 -	Portugal	37 (2)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 July 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 8 July 2006.

Fernando Meira (born 5 June 1978 in Guimarães), pron. IPA: [fɨɾ'nɐ̃du 'mɐiɾɐ], is a Portuguese football player. He has won numerous caps for the Portugal national football team before establishing himself as a regular in the national side's defence. After being left out of the squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he earned a recall under new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

[edit] Club career

Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira began his career with Vitória de Guimarães in 1995/96 and spent two further seasons there before moving to second division FC Felgueiras.

• 1998
• Fernando Meira played 33 league games as Felgueiras narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing fifth, before returning to Guimarães for another fine season in which he scored his first goals in league football.

• 2000
• Benfica paid €200,000 for him in summer 2000 and the defender did not disappoint, earning the club captaincy and bolstering his reputation to the point that VfB Stuttgart paid €7.5m for his skills in January 2002 on a four-and-a-half-year contract. Stuttgart's general manager, Ralf Rüssman, described the player as a "trophy" signing.

• 2002
• VfB Stuttgart coach Felix Magath fielded Fernando Meira in 31 Bundesliga matches, and only a suspension prevented him from featuring in all 34 as the club finished second to clinch a place in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. He missed two UEFA Cup matches, including the home defeat by Celtic FC.

• 2006
• He became team captain of the VfB Stuttgart.

	Portugal squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place
1 Ricardo | 2 Ferreira | 3 Caneira | 4 Costa | 5 Meira | 6 Costinha | 7 Figo | 8 Petit | 9 Pauleta | 10 Viana | 11 Simão | 12 Quim | 13 Miguel | 14 Valente | 15 Boa Morte | 16 Carvalho | 17 Ronaldo | 18 Maniche | 19 Tiago | 20 Deco | 21 Nuno Gomes | 22 Santos | 23 Postiga | Coach: Scolari

VfB Stuttgart - Current Squad
1 Hildebrand | 2 Beck | 3 Osorio | 5 Babbel | 6 Meira | 7 Meißner | 8 Bierofka | 9 Streller | 10 Tomasson | 11 Hitzlsperger | 12 Gerber | 13 Pardo | 14 Farnerud | 15 Boka | 17 Delpierre | 18 Cacau | 19 Hilbert | 21 Magnin | 22 Gentner | 23 Heinen | 24 Nehrig | 25 da Silva | 30 Ikeng | 31 Stolz | 33 Gomez | 35 Tasci | 41 Langer | Manager: Armin Veh