Vasco Faísca


Vasco Manuel Vilhena Faísca Teixeira, known as Faísca, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a defender, and the manager of S.C. Braga B.
He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Italy after starting out at Sporting, representing in the country Vicenza, Padova and Ascoli and appearing in one Serie A match with the first club.

Club career

Born in Lisbon, Faísca was a product of Sporting CP's youth system. In the summer of 2000 he was signed by Inter Milan alongside teammates Marco Caneira and Paulo Costa, in co-ownership with other clubs; he was sold to Vicenza Calcio for 1,200 million lire.
Faísca stayed in Italy and played with Vicenza Calcio for four seasons – one game in Serie A in 2000–01, the rest of his spell in Serie B – before his rights were acquired fully in June 2004. Shortly after, however, he returned to Portugal and joined Académica de Coimbra, making his Primeira Liga debut and being an automatic first-choice as the Students narrowly avoided relegation.
In the 2005 off-season, Faísca signed for C.F. Os Belenenses, being fairly used in his first year but being deemed surplus to requirements soon afterwards. In January 2007 he returned to Italy, joining Serie C1 team Calcio Padova and winning promotion in his second full campaign.
On 31 August 2010, Faísca moved to second level's Ascoli Calcio 1898 as part of the deal that involved Jonas Portin. He suffered relegation at the end of 2012–13, terminating his contract which still had another year running.
Until his retirement at the age of 37, and save for one year in the Superleague Greece with Platanias FC, Faísca competed in the Italian lower leagues, where he represented S.S. Matera Calcio, S.S. Maceratese 1922 and Virtus Francavilla Calcio. He started his senior managerial career as an assistant at U.D. Vilafranquense and, on 5 February 2019, was named head coach of S.C. Olhanense.

International career

Faísca appeared for the Portugal under-21 team at the 2002 UEFA European Championship in Switzerland, playing all group games as starter as the nation exited in that stage.