Ricardo Esteves

Ricardo Esteves
Personal information
Full name	Ricardo Felipe dos Santos Esteves
Date of birth	16 September 1979 (age 45)
Place of birth	Lisbon, Portugal
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Right back / Midfielder
Youth career
1990–1998	Benfica
Senior career*
Years	Team
1998–1999	Oriental
1999–2001	Benfica B
2000	→ Vitória Setúbal (loan)
2000	→ Alverca (loan)
2001	Benfica
2002	→ Braga B (loan)
2002	→ Braga (loan)
2002–2004	Nacional
2004	Paços Ferreira
2004–2007	Reggina
2005–2006	→ Vicenza (loan)
2007–2008	Marítimo
2008–2010	Asteras Tripoli
2010	Seoul
2010–2011	Marítimo
2012	Dalian Shide
Total
International career
1998–2000	Portugal U20
1999–2000	Portugal U21
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Portugal
UEFA European Under-17 Championship
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ricardo Felipe dos Santos Esteves (born 16 September 1979) is a retired Portuguese footballer. On the right side of the pitch, he could play as either a defender or midfielder.

He played in 117 Primeira Liga games over the course of seven seasons, representing Vitória de Setúbal, Alverca, Benfica, Braga, Nacional, Paços de Ferreira and Marítimo in the competition. He also competed professionally in four other countries, mainly Italy.

Club career

Esteves was born in Lisbon. After arriving at S.L. Benfica at the age of 11 he moved constantly between the club's first and reserve teams, only appearing in ten games in the Primeira Liga, all in the same season. He was loaned once during his contract, and also had a brief spell with farm team F.C. Alverca.^[1]

Released in January 2002, Esteves represented in quick succession S.C. Braga, C.D. Nacional and F.C. Paços de Ferreira. Afterwards, he began an abroad adventure, playing three years in Italy with Reggina Calcio (two) and Vicenza Calcio in both major levels.

Esteves spent the 2007–08 campaign back in his country with C.S. Marítimo, after which he moved again, now to Greece and Asteras Tripoli FC. In January 2010 he was sold to FC Seoul, scoring in his debut against Daejeon Citizen FC.

In June, after four goals and as many assists, Esteves was released. Late in that month he returned to his country and former side Marítimo, which had qualified for the UEFA Europa League.^[2]

International career

All youth levels comprised, Esteves won 53 caps for Portugal (no goals). He participated with the under-20s in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Nigeria; in the round of 16 against Japan, as the team had no substitutes left and Sérgio Leite got injured, he played as a goalkeeper for more than one hour, conceding no goals in regulation time in an eventual 4–5 penalty shootout loss (1–1 after 120 minutes).^[3]

References

^ "Proposta de renovação para Ricardo Esteves" [Renewal proposal for Ricardo Esteves]. Record (in Portuguese). 12 August 2000. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
^ "Ricardo Esteves regressa à ilha" [Ricardo Esteves returns to the island] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 30 May 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
^ "Sub-20: Guardião imprevisto no adeus aos Mundiais" [Under-20: Unexpected goalie in goodbye to World Championships]. Record (in Portuguese). 27 June 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2018.

External links

Ricardo Esteves at ForaDeJogo (archived)
Ricardo Esteves at TuttoCalciatori.net (in Italian)
Ricardo Esteves – K League stats at kleague.com (in Korean)
Ricardo Esteves national team profile at the Portuguese Football Federation (in Portuguese)
Ricardo Esteves – FIFA competition record (archived)

[1] "Proposta de renovação para Ricardo Esteves" [Renewal proposal for Ricardo Esteves]. Record (in Portuguese). 12 August 2000. Retrieved 30 January 2018.

[2] "Ricardo Esteves regressa à ilha" [Ricardo Esteves returns to the island] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 30 May 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2018.

[3] "Sub-20: Guardião imprevisto no adeus aos Mundiais" [Under-20: Unexpected goalie in goodbye to World Championships]. Record (in Portuguese). 27 June 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2018.

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