| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paulo Sérgio Cardoso da Costa | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1979-12-05)5 December 1979 (age 45) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Moita, Portugal | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Attacking midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | CD Charneca | ||||||||||||||||
| 1994–1996 | Odivelas | ||||||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Sporting CP | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Lourinhanense | 27 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Alverca | 15 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Inter Milan | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Reggina | 25 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2005 | Porto | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Porto B | 12 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | →Venezia (loan) | 20 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | →Bordeaux (loan) | 16 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | →Gil Vicente (loan) | 17 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Bordeaux B | ||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | Aris | 42 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Aris Limassol | 13 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Anorthosis | 25 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | →APOEL (loan) | 5 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Levadiakos | 10 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010 | APOP | 11 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Ermis | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Aris Limassol | 12 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 264 | (34) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Portugal U20 | 20 | (5) | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2002 | Portugal U21 | 20 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Paulo Sérgio Cardoso da Costa (born 5 December 1979) is a Portuguese footballer who played as anattacking midfielder.
After playing professionally in Portugal, Italy, France and Greece, he finally moved to Cyprus in his mid-20s, spending his remaining career there.
He scored once from 42Primeira Liga games over the course of three seasons, representingAlverca,Porto andGil Vicente in the competition.
Born inMoita,Setúbal District, Costa began playing as a senior atSporting Clube Lourinhanense,Sporting Clube de Portugal'sfarm team. In 1999 he joinedF.C. Alverca, rejoining another youth product of thePrimeira Liga powerhouse,Marco Caneira.
In June 2000, both Costa and Caneira signed withInter Milan, who bought the pair in aco-ownership deal withReggina Calcio.[1] Costa was sold for€2 million[2] and, in June 2001, Reggina acquired him outright for €1,3 million[2] and Inter bought back Caneira for an undisclosed fee;[3] however, in July Costa was bought back from Reggina[4] for €1,6 million[5] and, in a continuing series of unassuming loans, then played withFC Porto (which also acquired 50% registration rights[6] for €1,5 million[5]),A.C. Venezia andFC Girondins de Bordeaux, rejoining former teammate Caneira in the latter (with the first and third clubs, he was often demoted to the reserves);[7][8] he returned to Portugal for the2004–05 season, joiningGil Vicente FC.
Costa joinedAris Thessaloniki F.C. from Greece in January 2006,[9] with his new club starting thesecond division season in poor fashion but improving their game and results underNikos Anastopoulos and eventually returning to theSuperleague, with the player contributing with 13 games;the following campaign he scored a career-best seven goals, with Aris overachieving for a final fourth place as he formed a successful offensive partnership withKoke.
In August 2007, Costa started aCypriot adventure, as many Portuguese players in that timeframe years, by joiningAris Limassol FC. On 3 January 2008 he signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with another side in the country,Anorthosis Famagusta FC.
On 28 December 2008, continuing in Cyprus, Costa signed a six-month contract withAPOEL FC, but had it mutually rescinded on 13 March of the following year.[10] In August 2009 he returned to Greece and penned a two-year deal withLevadiakos FC,[11] leaving the club in January 2010 and moving back to Cyprus, signing for one and a half years withdomestic cup holdersAPOP Kinyras FC.
Costa moved toErmis Aradippou for2010–11, but was released shortly after. He finished the season with another team in the country, former club Aris Limassol, netting four goals as theyreturned to the top flight after one year.
