.jpg) Ricardo in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ricardo Alexandre Martins Soares Pereira[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1976-02-11)11 February 1976 (age 49)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Montijo, Portugal | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1990 | Unidos Barreiro | ||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1994 | Montijo | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Montijo | 18 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–2003 | Boavista | 154 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2003–2007 | Sporting CP | 125 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2011 | Betis | 48 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Leicester City | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Vitória Setúbal | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2014 | Olhanense | 13 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 369 | (1) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1997 | Portugal U21 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2008 | Portugal | 79 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Ricardo Alexandre Martins Soares PereiraOIH (Portuguese pronunciation:[ʁiˈkaɾðu]; born 11 February 1976), known simply asRicardo, is a Portuguese former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper.
He spent most of his career withBoavista andSporting CP, helping the former to its onlyPrimeira Liga title and appearing in 158 official matches with the latter, winning oneTaça de Portugal. He moved abroad in his 30s, representing mainlyBetis.
Ricardo won 79caps forPortugal, playing in twoWorld Cups and twoEuropean Championships, notably reachingthe final atEuro 2004.[3]
Born inMontijo,Setúbal, Ricardo started his career at hometown clubMontijo, signing withBoavista in 1995.[4] After initially battling for first-choice status withWilliam Andem he became first-choice,[5] and appeared in 28 matches in theChequereds2000–01 conquest of thePrimeira Liga championship, the club's only title in its history.[6][7]
Ricardo was one of the latter team's most influential players in their2002–03 campaign in theUEFA Cup, in a run that would only stop in the competition's semi-finals.[8] On 9 May 2003, through apenalty kick, he scored the only goal of the home win againstBeira-Mar.[9]
In the following off-season, Ricardo joinedSporting CP for a fee of€7 million and 20% from the value of any future transfer.[10] An undisputed starter from his beginnings, he backstopped the side tothe final of the2004–05 UEFA Cup, a 3–1 loss toCSKA Moscow (the game was played at theEstádio José Alvalade).[11]
On 9 July 2007, Ricardo was linked with a transfer toReal Betis and, two days later, he signed a four-year contract with theLa Liga club.[12] His league debut took place againstRecreativo de Huelva on 26 August, a 1–1 away draw;[13] having startedthe season as first-choice, he eventually lost the position to traineeCasto, but would regain his status for two of the last three games as theAndalusians avoided relegation.
In2008–09, as managerPaco Chaparro, who arrived midway through the previous season, started on the bench, Ricardo lost the battle for first-choice, having to settle withCopa del Rey matches, a situation which would revert midway through the campaign[14][15] as Betis eventually suffered relegation.The following year he was backup toIñaki Goitia, and made no appearances as his team finished fourth and were not promoted.[16]
Ricardo was not given any shirt number for2010–11, being limited to training with thePepe Mel-led squad, and later released from his contract in January 2011 – it was due to expire in June of that year.[16]
Ricardo started training withFootball League Championship sideLeicester City,[17] and joined the team on 31 January 2011, signing until the end ofthe season,[18] and citing managerSven-Göran Eriksson as his motivation for making the move.[19] He made his competitive debut on 12 February, in a 2–0 win overDerby County atPride Park Stadium.[20]
On 21 May 2011, Leicester confirmed it would not renew Ricardo's contract, due to expire on 30 June.[21] In mid-August, he signed forVitória de Setúbal, returning to his country after four years.[22]
Ricardo retired in 2014 after two years withOlhanense. He remained on theAlgarve, settling inVilamoura and setting up R1 Real Estate.[23]
Ricardo made his debut for thePortugal national team on 2 June 2001 against theRepublic of Ireland,[24][3] taking the place ofVítor Baía who was recovering from a serious knee injury. However, he would be his backup in the2002 FIFA World Cup.[25]
"I felt that I had to do something after conceding three penalties all in the centre of the goal. Taking the gloves off was what occurred to me at that moment and I did it to try and motivate myself and to put Vassell off."
AtUEFA Euro 2004, played on home soil, Ricardo helped Portugal to defeatEngland in the quarter-finals onpenalties: with the score at 5–5, he first saved the shot ofDarius Vassell with his gloves off, and then scored the deciding penalty.[27] Inthe final againstGreece, however, he misjudged acorner when coming for the ball, andAngelos Charisteas headed the only goal of the game.[28]
Ricardo kept twoclean sheets in the2006 World Cup group stage, only being beaten byMexico'sFrancisco Fonseca as the national side won all three matches. They once again knocked out England in the quarter-finals of a major tournament on penalties, as he saved fromFrank Lampard,Steven Gerrard andJamie Carragher in a 3–1 shootout victory after a 0–0 draw withextra time, becoming the first keeper to save three times in aWorld Cup shootout;[29] the country finished fourth, and he was named to the tournament All-Star team as one of the three best goalkeepers.[30]
Despite some criticism, Ricardo remained first-choice inEuro 2008, playing all of the matches as Portugal was eliminated byGermany 3–2 in the quarter-finals, where he misjudged two clearances which led to headed goals.[31] After he lost his position at Betis he was not called up for the2010 World Cup qualifiers, being replaced byS.L. Benfica'sQuim and laterEduardo.[32]
In March 2023, Ricardo was named the national team's new goalkeeper coach alongsideIñaki Bergara, following the appointment ofRoberto Martínez.[33]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Europe | Other[a] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Montijo | 1994–95 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 18 | 0 | |||
| Boavista | 1995–96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1996–97 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 22 | 0 | |||
| 1997–98 | 34 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 0 | ||
| 1998–99 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | 7 | 0 | ||||
| 1999–2000 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | – | 15 | 0 | |||
| 2000–01 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | – | 31 | 0 | |||
| 2001–02 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 16 | 0 | – | 49 | 1 | |||
| Total | 154 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 208 | 1 | |
| Sporting CP | 2003–04 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | – | 38 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 15 | 0 | – | 48 | 0 | |||
| 2005–06 | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | – | 35 | 0 | |||
| 2006–07 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | – | 37 | 0 | |||
| Total | 125 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 158 | 0 | |
| Betis | 2007–08 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 28 | 0 | |||
| 2008–09 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – | – | 26 | 0 | ||||
| 2009–10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2010–11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 48 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 0 | |
| Leicester City | 2010–11 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 0 | ||
| Vitória Setúbal | 2011–12 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 0 | ||
| Olhanense | 2012–13 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 9 | 0 | ||
| 2013–14 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 9 | 0 | |||
| Total | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |
| Career total | 369 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 62 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 470 | 1 | |
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 2001 | 7 | 0 |
| 2002 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 7 | 0 | |
| Total | 79 | 0 | |
Boavista
Sporting CP
Portugal
Individual
Orders
Medal of Merit,Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (House of Braganza)[41]
Portugal squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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