Paulo Futre

Paulo Futre

Personal information
Full name	Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre
Date of birth	(1966-02-28) 28 February 1966
Place of birth	Montijo, Portugal
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
1974–1975	Montijo
1975–1983	Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1983–1984	Sporting CP	21	(3)
1984–1987	Porto	81	(25)
1987–1993	Atlético Madrid	163	(38)
1993	Benfica	11	(3)
1993	Marseille	8	(2)
1993–1995	Reggiana	13	(5)
1995–1996	Milan	1	(0)
1996–1997	West Ham	9	(0)
1997–1998	Atlético Madrid	10	(0)
1998	Yokohama Flügels	13	(3)
Total		320	(79)
International career
1983–1995	Portugal	41	(6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpawlu ˈfutɾɨ]; born 28 February 1966) is a retired Portuguese professional footballer who played mostly as a left winger.

After exploding at Sporting Clube de Portugal well before his 20th birthday, he soon moved to Futebol Clube do Porto, after which he embarked in an extensive career - until 1998 - having represented clubs in Spain, France, Italy and Japan, most notably Atlético Madrid.

A Portuguese international since the age of 17, Futre gained more than 40 caps for his country, representing it at the 1986 World Cup.

Club career

Born in Montijo, Futre first appeared professionally in 1983–84, as a 17-year old for Sporting Clube de Portugal, whose youth system he had joined at the age of nine. When he requested a pay raise from president João Rocha, he was turned down and left for F.C. Porto after just one season, as veterans Jaime Pacheco and António Sousa moved in the opposite direction as part of the deal. In the following years, Futre collected two Portuguese Championships, also helping the northerners to the 1986–87 European Cup, putting on a Man of the match performance in the final against FC Bayern Munich.

After that continental win, Futre was traded to Atlético de Madrid. Once there, he quickly rose to fan favourite status. However, his physical weakness left him with several knee injuries which tormented his career in the 1990s. In his fifth season, he provided countless assists for striker Manolo who netted 27 times for the Pichichi Trophy, with Futre himself scoring in the season's domestic cup, a 2–0 win over neighbours Real Madrid.

In January 1993, he moved to Porto and Sporting rivals S.L. Benfica, winning a Portuguese Cup in his short stay, as his injury woes persisted. After Benfica, he signed one-season contracts with Olympique de Marseille, A.C. Reggiana 1919, A.C. Milan and West Ham United. Finally, he returned to Atlético Madrid (10 La Liga games in 1997–98), effectively ending his career with J. League Division 1 side Yokohama Flügels.

Futre worked as director of football at Atlético Madrid from 2000–03, subsequently becoming a real-estate developer in his hometown. In May 2011, he was part of Dias Ferreira's team in an unsuccessful run for Sporting's presidency.

International career

Futre was capped 41 times for Portugal in a 12-year span, scoring six goals, his debut coming at 17 against Finland, for the UEFA Euro 1984 qualifiers, on 27 April 1983.

He was a member of the Portuguese national team that competed in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, playing 90 minutes in the 1–3 loss against Morocco, in an eventual group stage exit.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	30 January 1985	Estádio José Alvalade (1956), Lisbon, Portugal	Romania	1–0	2–3	Friendly
2	20 September 1989	Stade de la Maladière, Neuchâtel, Switzerland	Switzerland	1–1	1–2	1990 World Cup qualification
3	23 January 1991	Olympic Stadium (Athens), Athens, Greece	Greece	1–2	3–2	Euro 1992 qualifying
4	9 February 1991	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	0–1	0–1	Euro 1992 qualifying
5	28 April 1993	Estádio da Luz (1954), Lisbon, Portugal	Scotland	3–0	5–0	1994 World Cup qualification
6	10 November 1993	Estádio da Luz (1954), Lisbon, Portugal	Estonia	1–0	3–0	1994 World Cup qualification Statistics Club
1983–84	Sporting	Portuguese League	21	3
1984–85	Porto	Portuguese League	30	6
1985–86			26	7
1986–87			25	12
1987–88	Atlético Madrid	Spanish League	35	8
1987–88			28	5
1988–89			26	10
1989–90			26	3
1990–91			31	6
1991–92			16	5
1992–93	Benfica	Portuguese League	11	3
1993–94	Marseille	French League	8	2
1993–94	Reggiana	Italian League	1	1
1994–95			12	4
1995–96	Milan	Italian League	1	0
1996–97	West Ham	Premier League	9	0
1997–98	Atlético Madrid	Spanish League	10	0
1998	Yokohama Flügels	J. League	13	3	0	0	3	0	-		16	3 Template:Football player club statistics 3123||31|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player club statistics 4173||37|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player club statistics 48||2|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player club statistics 414||5|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player club statistics 49||0|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player club statistics 413||3||0||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||16||3 Template:Football player club statistics 5340||78||||||||||||||||

International

Template:Football player national team statistics |- |1983||1||0 |- |1984||4||0 |- |1985||4||1 |- |1986||4||0 |- |1987||2||0 |- |1988||1||0 |- |1989||4||1 |- |1990||1||0 |- |1991||8||2 |- |1992||3||0 |- |1993||8||2 |- |1994||0||0 |- |1995||1||0 |- !Total||41||6 |}

Honours

Team

• Porto:
  • Portuguese League: 1984–85, 1985–86
  • European Cup: 1986–87

• Atlético Madrid:
  • Spanish Cup: 1990–91, 1991–92

• Benfica:
  • Portuguese Cup: 1992–93

• Milan:
  • Italian League: 1995–96

Individual

• European Silver Ball: 1987
• Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 1986, 1987

Personal

Futre's younger son, Fábio, was also a footballer. A midfielder, he played for Atlético Madrid's youth teams, and was called-up for Portugal's under-17 team. His nephew, Artur Futre, appeared professionally for F.C. Alverca, F.C. Maia and C.D. Aves, without much impact.

Futre's older son, Paulo, played in a rock band, "Fr1day".

External links

• Stats and profile at Zerozero
• Stats at ForaDeJogo Template:Pt icon
• Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional Template:Es icon
• BDFutbol profile
• Paulo Futre at Soccerbase
• Paulo Futre at National-Football-Teams.com
• Official website