Abel Ferreira

Abel

Personal information
Full name	Abel Fernando Moreira Ferreira
Date of birth	(1978-12-22) December 22, 1978
Place of birth	Penafiel, Portugal
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Right back
Youth career
1995–1997	Penafiel
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2000	Penafiel	63	(4)
2000–2004	Vitória Guimarães	80	(1)
2004–2005	Braga	43	(0)
2006–2011	Sporting CP	111	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Abel Fernando Moreira Ferreira, simply Abel (born 22 December 1978 in Penafiel), is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a right defender.

Football career

After emerging through hometown side F.C. Penafiel's youth ranks, Abel developed while at Vitória de Guimarães, making his top level debuts, then switched to another Minho side in 2004–05, Sporting de Braga.

In January 2006 Abel transferred to Sporting Clube de Portugal, in a two-way loan deal involving Wender, a Brazilian who already had represented the northern side. The move was made permanent before the 2006–07 season.

On 27 November 2007 Abel scored a spectacular goal against Manchester United, in a UEFA Champions League group stage 1–2 away loss. During that season he was also called-up for the national team, but did not make his debut.

From the 2008–09 campaign onwards, Abel began having stiff competition from Brazilian Pedro Silva, a situation which was aggravated with the January 2010 purchase of Braga's João Pereira.

Veteran Abel was still relatively used by Sporting in the following seasons, as Pereira featured regularly as a midfielder. On 24 October 2010 he netted his first league goal for the Lisbon outfit, scoring in the 90th minute to defeat Rio Ave F.C. at home (1–0); he retired at the end of 2010–11 at the age of 32, amassing top division totals of 234 games and three goals.

External links

• Abel Ferreira at footballzz.co.uk
• Stats at ForaDeJogo
• PortuGOAL profile