Eurico Gomes

Eurico Monteiro Gomes, simply Eurico in his playing days (born 29 September 1955), is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a central defender, and a current manager.

The first player to have represented the Big Three in his country, he amassed Portuguese top division totals of 313 games and seven goals over the course of 14 seasons, winning 12 major titles. He subsequently embarked on a lengthy managerial career.

Eurico played nearly 40 times with the Portuguese national team, appearing with it at Euro 1984.

Club career

Born in Santa Marta de Penaguião, Vila Real District, Eurico made his professional debuts with S.L. Benfica at the age of 19, being regularly used in four top division seasons and winning back-to-back national championships with the club (he also reached two domestic cup finals). In 1979 he switched to Lisbon rivals Sporting Clube de Portugal, only missing one league game during his three-year spell and winning a total of three titles, including the double in 1981–82.

Aged 27, Eurico signed with another team from the country's Big Three, Futebol Clube do Porto, again rarely missing one match until suffering a severe injury early into the 1985–86 season. He started in the final of the 1983–84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a 1–2 loss against Juventus F.C. in Basel.

After only one league game in his last two seasons at Porto combined – he still managed to appear in the club's victorious campaign in the European Cup – Eurico signed with Vitória de Setúbal, still in the top level, retiring from football at the age of nearly 34.

Gomes took up coaching in 1989, managing a host of teams in Portugal. He helped F.C. Tirsense promote to the top division in 1994, then coached the side in a further two full seasons, the latter one ending in relegation. Early into the 1996–97 campaign he agreed to rescind his link with the northerners and joined União de Leiria, suffering another top flight relegation (he was one of the club's three managers during the season).

In 2006 and 2007 Gomes worked in Algeria, with JSM Béjaïa and MC Oran. The following year, on 10 October, he was appointed at Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. in Greece (second division), failing to win promotion.

International career

Eurico earned 38 caps for Portugal, scoring three goals. His first appearance with the national team was a 1–0 win over the United States in a friendly match, on 20 September 1978, and his final game was played on 3 April 1985 in another exhibition game, now with Italy (0–2 loss).

Selected for UEFA Euro 1984 in France, Eurico played in all the matches and minutes as Portugal reached the semifinal stage of the competition.

Eurico Gomes: International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 October 1978	Estádio José Alvalade (1956), Lisbon, Portugal	Belgium	1–0	1–1	Euro 1980 qualifying
2	9 June 1984	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Luxembourg	1–1	1–2	Friendly
3	5 September 1984	Estádio do Restelo, Lisbon, Portugal	Bulgaria	1–0	1–0	Friendly

Honours

Player

Club

Benfica

• Portuguese League: 1975–76, 1976–77
• Portuguese Cup: Runner-up 1973–74, 1974–75

Sporting

• Portuguese League: 1979–80, 1981–82
• Portuguese Cup: 1981–82

Porto

• Portuguese League: 1984–85, 1985–86
• Portuguese Cup: 1983–84
• Portuguese Supercup: 1983, 1984, 1986; Runner-up 1985
• European Cup: 1986–87
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Runner-up 1983–84

Country

• UEFA European Football Championship: Third-place 1984

Manager

Tirsense

• Second Division: 1993–94

References

External links

• Profile at Zerozero
• Stats at ForaDeJogo
• Coach stats at ForaDeJogo
• Eurico Gomes at National-Football-Teams.com

v t e Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 1984 semi-finalists 1 Bento (c) 2 Nené 3 Jordão 4 Chalana 5 Vermelhinho 6 Gomes 7 C. Manuel 8 Veloso 9 J. Pinto 10 Lima Pereira 11 Eurico 12 Martins 13 Sousa 14 Frasco 15 Pacheco 16 Bastos Lopes 17 Álvaro 18 E. Luís 19 Diamantino 20 Damas Coach: Cabrita