Rui Costa
Rui Costa with Benfica in 2007
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Rui Manuel César Costa | ||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 29 March 1972 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Amadora, Portugal | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder | ||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||
| 1977–1990 | Benfica | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||
| 1990–1994 | Benfica | 78 | (13) | ||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | → Fafe (loan) | 38 | (6) | ||||||||||||
| 1994–2001 | Fiorentina | 215 | (38) | ||||||||||||
| 2001–2006 | Milan | 124 | (4) | ||||||||||||
| 2006–2008 | Benfica | 43 | (5) | ||||||||||||
| Total | 498 | (66) | |||||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||||
| 1990 | Portugal U18 | 4 | (1) | ||||||||||||
| 1991 | Portugal U20 | 11 | (1) | ||||||||||||
| 1992–1994 | Portugal U21 | 19 | (7) | ||||||||||||
| 1993–2004 | Portugal | 94 | (26) | ||||||||||||
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Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Rui Manuel César Costa, OIH (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʁuj ˈkɔʃtɐ]; born 29 March 1972) is a former Portuguese professional footballer.
Regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Costa played in a creative role as an attacking midfielder but was also capable of playing as a deep-lying playmaker. Throughout his career, he was renowned for his fine technique, great vision and excellent passing, which made him a capable assist provider; he was also an accurate striker of the ball with both feet. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100, as one of the 125 greatest living football players.
Nicknamed "the Maestro", Costa spent the majority of his career with Benfica in Portugal and Fiorentina and A.C. Milan in Italy. In a top-flight career spanning 17 years, he won several trophies including one Primeira Liga title, one Portuguese Cup, one Serie A title, three Italian Cups, one UEFA Champions League title and one UEFA Super Cup. A Portuguese international, Costa amassed 94 caps and scored 26 goals for a selecção and represented the country in three UEFA European Championships and one FIFA World Cup.
At the age of five, Costa joined the infant indoor football team of Damaia Ginásio Clube. Costa tried his luck at Benfica. Within ten minutes of training, Portugal legend Eusébio, who was supervising the youngsters, was impressed with Costa's skills. Up until 1990, Costa played for Benfica's youth squads. In his first full season he was loaned to A.D. Fafe on a season long deal.
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