João Ricardo

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João Ricardo
Personal information
Full name	João Ricardo Pereira Batalha Santos Ferreira
Date of birth	7 January 1970
Place of birth	Luanda, Angola
Height	180cm
Position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	unattached
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1993-98 1998-01 2000-2005 2006-	Académico Viseu Salgueiros Moreirense unattached	107 (0) 1 (0) 97 (0) 0 (0)
National team**
1996-	Angola	29 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 June 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 21 June 2006.

João Ricardo Pereira Batalha Santos Ferreira (born January 7, 1970 in Luanda, Angola) better known as João Ricardo (pron. IPA: [ʒu'ɐ̃ũ ʁi'kaɾðu]) is an Angolan football goalkeeper and member of the national team and 2006 FIFA World Cup participant.

Ricardo is Angolan of Portuguese descent and returned to Portugal with his family, along with most white Angolans in 1974 while he was only 4 years old. He played first in his adopted home town of Leiria and then at Marrazes, although he is now without a professional team and has been for three years. His inclusion came about from strict disciplined self-training.

He played a pivotal role in Angola's surprise 0-0 draw with Mexico in the group stage of the tournament, making several key saves one where he saved a Rafael Marquez free-kick and a Pavel Pardo shot with one hand. In his subsequent game against Iran he performed very well and was soon offered a contract by Iranian outfit Zob Ahan FC. The deal fell apart though, and Ricardo is still clubless.^[1]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Yahoo! Sports profile of João Ricardo

	Angola squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 João Ricardo | 2 Marco Airosa | 3 Jamba | 4 Lebo Lebo | 5 Kali | 6 Miloy | 7 Figueiredo | 8 André | 9 Mantorras | 10 Akwá | 11 Mateus | 12 Lamá | 13 Édson | 14 Mendonça | 15 Rui Marques | 16 Flávio | 17 Zé Kalanga | 18 Love | 19 Titi Buengo | 20 Locó | 21 Delgado | 22 Mário | 23 Marco Abreu | Coach: Gonçalves