Fernando Meira
Meira in 2009
|
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira | ||
| Date of birth | 5 June 1978 | ||
| Place of birth | Guimarães, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Playing position | Centre back / Defensive midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1988–1992 | Vitória Guimarães | ||
| 1992–1993 | Ribeira de Pena | ||
| 1993–1996 | Vitória Guimarães | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1996–2000 | Vitória Guimarães | 53 | (2) |
| 1998–1999 | → Felgueiras (loan) | 33 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | Benfica | 46 | (2) |
| 2002–2008 | VfB Stuttgart | 173 | (11) |
| 2008–2009 | Galatasaray | 21 | (0) |
| 2009–2011 | Zenit St. Petersburg | 35 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | Real Zaragoza | 12 | (0) |
| Total | 373 | (16) | |
| National team | |||
| 1997–1998 | Portugal U20 | 14 | (0) |
| 1998–2000 | Portugal U21 | 20 | (0) |
| 2000–2008 | Portugal | 54 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃du ˈmɐjɾɐ]; born 5 June 1978) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played mainly as a central defender.
In his country, he represented most notably Vitória de Guimarães, also playing one year with Benfica. After a lengthy spell in Germany with VfB Stuttgart, he went on to appear for teams in Turkey, Russia and Spain.
A strong and skillful defender, Meira gained more than 50 caps for the Portugal national team, representing the nation in one World Cup and one European Championship.
Born in Guimarães, Meira began his professional career with hometown's Vitória de Guimarães, but only had one solid season with its first team, in 1999–2000 (precisely his last), as he appeared in 30 of his 53 games with the Minho club. In 1998, he was also loaned to Felgueiras in the second division, being an essential defensive unit as the side narrowly missed out on promotion after finishing fifth.
In the summer of 2002, Meira joined Portuguese top flight giants Benfica for a €4 million transfer fee plus one player. He played 31 matches in his first season – 30 starts – and was also awarded team captaincy, but the Lisbon club did not win any silverware during his stint.
...
Wikipedia