Fernando Couto

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Fernando Couto
FCouto.JPG
Fernando Couto 2011
Personnel
Surname Fernando Manuel Silva Couto
birthday 2nd August 1969
place of birth Espinho ,  Portugal
size 184 cm
position Central defender
Juniors
Years station
Sporting de Espinho
Lusitânia de Lourosa
FC Porto
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1987-1994 FC Porto 107 (19)
1988-1989 →  FC Famalicão  (loan) 0 0(0)
1989-1990 →  Académica Coimbra  (loan) 28 0(3)
1994-1996 AC Parma 39 0(4)
1996-1998 FC Barcelona 44 0(0)
1998-2005 Lazio Rome 145 0(9)
2005-2008 Parma FC 63 0(1)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1989 Portugal U-20 4 0(0)
1989-1990 Portugal U-21 6 0(1)
1990-2004 Portugal 110 0(8)
1 Only league games are given.

Fernando Manuel Silva Couto (born August 2, 1969 in Espinho ) is a Portuguese soccer player who has played as an experienced central defender for numerous top European clubs and the Portuguese national soccer team.

He was positive for 2001 nandrolone tested and so for five months locked . In April 2007 he was fined 4,000 euros under the Italian anti-doping law.

Career

In the club

Couto was born in Espinho in 1969 as one of eight children. There he spent his childhood and played for the local club Sporting de Espinho . This was followed by the club Lusitânia de Lourosa before moving to FC Porto . There he was first in the youth department before he joined the dragon's professional squad for the 1987/88 season . In the very first year he came to his first assignment. However, this should remain his only one for this season. In the following years, the FC officials loaned him to the third division club FC Famalicão and the university team Académica Coimbra . There he should gain experience and match practice. In 1990 he returned to FC Porto. He was now able to assert himself at the top club and contributed to winning three Portuguese championships in the next four years .

In summer 1994, he opted for a switch to AC Parma in the Serie A . In its first year with the Italians, the club impressed in the UEFA Cup and advanced to the final. There you faced the league competitor Juventus Turin . Parma won 1-0 through an early goal in the first leg . The second leg on May 17, 1995 ended in a 1-1 draw. In both games, Couto completed the full 90 minutes. After another season he left the club after the 1995/96 season for Spain. For the equivalent of 5.5 million euros, FC Barcelona secured the services of the uncompromising defender. Nationally, he was able to win the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) twice and the championship with the Catalans once . He also celebrated successes internationally. After a 1-0 win against Paris Saint-Germain in the final on May 14, 1997, he won the European Cup Winners' Cup .

In 1998, Couto turned his back on the traditional Spanish club and decided to move back to Italy. He signed a contract with the capital club Lazio Rome and stayed with the club for seven years. He also collected titles with the Romans. As in 1997, he was in the 1999 final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. In the final final for this trophy, his team beat Real Mallorca 2-1 . Under the leadership of Sven-Göran Eriksson , he became Italian champion the following year . With the victory of the cup in the same season, the double was made perfect. In 2004, Couto won the cup a second time with Lazio. In the summer of 2005, he moved within Italy and was hired again for FC Parma (until 2004 AC Parma ). He played his last game in Serie A on the last day of the 2007/08 season on May 18, 2008 at the age of 39. He then announced the end of his career. With eleven field references, he has a very high rank in the historical Serie A statistics. At the end of the 2007/08 season he was tied with two other players and only three had more.

In the national team

Due to good performance, he was appointed to Portugal's U-18 team in November 1986. In 1989, Couto was nominated for the Portuguese squad for the U-20 World Youth Championship . The team made it to the final of the tournament, defeating Nigeria . With this victory the so-called “ Golden Generation ” of Portugal was born. In addition to Couto, players like Luís Figo and Rui Costa were there. But this triumph was more a curse than a blessing and the team failed to qualify for the soccer World Cup in 1994 and 1998 . At the 2002 World Cup , the troops were eliminated after the group stage.

The tournaments at European level were more successful. At the 1996 European Football Championship in England , Couto's team reached the quarter-finals. Four years later they were eliminated in the semifinals against eventual winners France. For Euro 2004 in his own country, Couto was supposed to lead the national team into the tournament as captain. But after a disappointing performance in the 1: 2 defeat in the opening game against Greece , he was relegated to the bench by national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari for the following games and replaced by Ricardo Carvalho . Luís Figo then took over the captain's armband . Portugal made it to the final, but could not give revenge for the first game and lost to the Greeks for the second time.

After the tournament was over, Couto announced his retirement from the national team.

successes

In the club

In the national team

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche Serie A ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , RAI Sport , as of the end of the 2007/08 season.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.speciali.raisport.rai.it
personal data
SURNAME Couto, Fernando
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Couto, Manuel Fernando Silva (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd August 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Espinho