João Paulo Bessa

João Paulo de Castro Silva Bessa (born Porto, 25 April 1947) is a Portuguese architect, journalist and a former rugby union player and coach. He also played football and tennis.

Career

Bessa studied Architecture at the University of Porto. He first played at CDUP (1965/66-1967/68) but moved then to CDUL (1968/69-1980/81) in Lisbon. He was one of the best rugby union Portuguese players of his time, having 5 caps for Portugal, from 1969 to 1974.

After ending his player career, he become a coach. He was the National Team coach from 1983 to 1986 and from 1994 to 1999. He almost achieved the qualification for the 1999 Rugby World Cup finals, but was eliminated by Uruguay at the repechage.

João Paulo Bessa also has been a sports journalist for many Portuguese newspapers.

External links

• João Paulo Bessa International Statistics
• João Paulo Bessa Data
• João Paulo Bessa Rugby Blog

Sporting positions
Preceded by Andrew Cushing	Portugal National Rugby Union Coach 1994–1999	Succeeded by Evan Crawford