Costinha

Costinha

Personal information
Full name	Francisco José Rodrigues Costa
Date of birth	(1974-12-01) 1 December 1974
Place of birth	Lisbon, Portugal
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1990–1994	Oriental
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994–1995	Oriental	26	(3)
1995–1996	Machico	30	(5)
1996–1997	Nacional	27	(4)
1997–2001	Monaco	84	(3)
2001–2005	Porto	108	(13)
2005–2006	Dynamo Moscow	10	(0)
2006–2007	Atlético Madrid	24	(0)
2007–2010	Atalanta	1	(0)
Total		310	(28)
National team
1998–2006	Portugal	53	(2)
Teams managed
2013	Beira-Mar
2013	Paços Ferreira
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Francisco José Rodrigues da Costa, OIH (born 1 December 1974), aka Costinha (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɔʃˈtiɲɐ]), is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and a current coach.

Best known for his tackling and positioning,^[1] he played professionally in five different countries – having arrived in the first division of his own at nearly 27 – and was also a Portuguese international. In 2004 he helped Porto win the Champions League, winning a total of eight trophies with that club.

Costinha gained more than 50 caps with Portugal, appearing with the national team in one World Cup and two European Championships, being part of the squad that reached the final in Euro 2004.

Club career

Player

Costinha was born in Lisbon to an Angolan father, who had emigrated to the Portuguese capital in the 60s.^[2] In the 1997 summer, after years of playing in the lower leagues, he caught the interest of French side AS Monaco FC while playing with C.D. Nacional in the second division. After a tentative first season he became an important first team member, helping with 28 matches and one goal to the club's 1999–2000 conquest of the Ligue 1 championship.

Aged almost 27, Costinha made his Portuguese top flight debut when he signed with F.C. Porto in 2001, going on to be an instrumental midfield element in the northerners' two consecutive national championships. On 9 March 2004 he scored against and effectively knocked out Manchester United in 2003–04's UEFA Champions League first knockout round;^[1] Porto went on to win the title, beating Costinha's former side Monaco 3–0 in the final.

Again a starter throughout most of the 2004–05 season, Costinha was sold to FC Dynamo Moscow in May 2005 for €4 million, alongside teammates Maniche and Giourkas Seitaridis, following Derlei (left in January).^[3] Unsettled, he left for Atlético Madrid, where he would play in the 2006–07 season.^[4]

Costinha would be released by the Colchoneros in August 2007, joining Serie A outfit Atalanta BC,^[5] where he would appear very rarely throughout his spell (only one match, in his first season) due to serious injuries and, later, technical choices from his club, who considered the player unfit to play competitively, despite him having the highest salary in the first team (€700,000 per year, in a contract due to expire in June 2010). The club tried to agree a mutual termination of the contract with the player, and also attempted unsuccessfully to obtain rescision of his contract through the Italian Football League.^[6]

Director

On 23 February 2010, 35-year-old Costinha left Atalanta by mutual consent.^[7] He immediately retired, being named shortly afterwards as Sporting Clube de Portugal's director of football, succeeding the sacked Ricardo Sá Pinto, his former international teammate. On 9 February 2011, the day after an interview to Sport TV in which he criticised the club's board of directors, he was dismissed.^[8]

In June 2011, in the same capacity, Costinha joined Servette FC, with the Swiss team being managed by countryman João Alves.^[9] It was reported that the pair did not see eye to eye on certain issues, and in November 2011, Alves was fired and replaced by João Carlos Pereira.^[10] The team's results worsened under Peireira and in April 2012, both Pereira and Costinha were fired, with Alves being reinstated as manager;^[11] Costinha reportedly contested the terms of his removal, claiming that his contract extended until June 2013.^[12]

Manager

Costinha was hired as manager of S.C. Beira-Mar on 18 February 2013, replacing Ulisses Morais.^[13] He left the club on 22 May after its top flight relegation.^[14]

On 12 June 2013 Costinha was appointed at fellow league team F.C. Paços de Ferreira, who had made the qualifying rounds of the Champions League for the first time in its history. His midfield partner for Portugal and three clubs, Maniche, was hired as assistant;^[15] he was sacked after only four months, however, due to poor results.^[16]

International career

Costinha made his debut for Portugal on 14 October 1998, during a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifier 1–0 home win against Slovakia, going on to appear in the tournament's final stage where he scored an injury time header against Romania (1–0).

He also played at Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. During the latter, on 25 June, he took part in the Battle of Nuremberg, being one of four players sent off in the round-of-16 success against the Netherlands (1–0), after two bookable offenses, the second being a handball.

Costinha finished his international career with 53 caps and two goals, having been rarely called during the Euro 2008 qualifying stage.

Costinha: International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 June 2000	GelreDome, Arnhem, Netherlands	Romania	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2000
2	7 September 2002	Villa Park, Birmingham, England	England	1–1	1–1	Friendly

Honours

Club

Porto

• UEFA Champions League: 2003–04
• UEFA Cup: 2002–03
• Intercontinental Cup: 2004
• Portuguese League: 2002–03, 2003–04
• Portuguese Cup: 2002–03
• Portuguese Supercup: 2003, 2004

Monaco

• French League: 1999–2000

Country

• UEFA European Championship: Runner-up 2004

Orders

• Medal of Merit, Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (House of Braganza)^[17]

Club statistics

References

External links

• Costinha at footballzz.co.uk
• Stats at ForaDeJogo
• PortuGOAL profile
• L'Équipe stats (French)
• BDFutbol profile

v t e Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2000 semi-finalists 1 Vítor Baía (c) 2 J. Costa 3 Rui Jorge 4 Vidigal 5 F. Couto 6 Paulo Sousa 7 Figo 8 João Pinto 9 Sá Pinto 10 Rui Costa 11 S. Conceição 12 Espinha 13 Dimas 14 Xavier 15 Costinha 16 Beto 17 Bento 18 Pauleta 19 Capucho 20 Secretário 21 Nuno Gomes 22 Quim Coach: Coelho

v t e Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2004 Runners-up 1 Ricardo 2 Ferreira 3 Rui Jorge 4 Andrade 5 F. Couto (c) 6 Costinha 7 Figo 8 Petit 9 Pauleta 10 Rui Costa 11 Simão 12 Quim 13 Miguel 14 N. Valente 15 Beto 16 Carvalho 17 C. Ronaldo 18 Maniche 19 Tiago 20 Deco 21 Nuno Gomes 22 Moreira 23 H. Postiga Coach: Scolari

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