Cândido Costa


Cândido Alves Moreira da Costa is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a right back.
He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 162 games and four goals over ten seasons, representing in the competition Salgueiros, Porto, Vitória de Setúbal, Braga and Belenenses. He also competed professionally in England and Romania.

Club career

Costa was born in São João da Madeira, Aveiro District. Having started his football career with the youth teams of S.L. Benfica, he switched to FC Porto after a brief stint with S.C. Salgueiros. In his first full season at Porto he contributed with 18 games and two goals in the league, but the title was lost in the penultimate round to neighbours Boavista FC.
After not being able to fully break into the first team, Costa joined S.C. Braga for 2004–05, also not being successful in two seasons – a combined 29 league appearances.
Costa, who had started his career as a winger, joined C.F. Os Belenenses in the 2006–07 season, ultimately reconverting into the right back position and becoming an undisputed starter for the Lisbon-based team, with nearly 75 league matches in his first three years, scoring against F.C. Paços de Ferreira on 18 March 2007 in a 2–0 away win.
After only appearing in 11 games in the 2009–10 season due to constant injuries, with Belenenses returning to the second level, 29-year-old Costa had his second abroad experience, signing with Liga I side FC Rapid Bucureşti.

Honours

Porto