Cândido Costa

Cândido Alves Moreira da Costa (born 30 April 1981 in São João da Madeira) is a retired Portuguese footballer who played mainly as a right back.
He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 162 games and four goals during ten seasons, representing in the competition Salgueiros, Porto, Vitória de Setúbal, Braga and Belenenses. He also competed professionally in England and Romania.

Club career

Having started his football career with the youth teams of S.L. Benfica, Costa switched to FC Porto after a brief stint with S.C. Salgueiros (where he made his Primeira Liga debuts, in the 1999–2000 campaign). In his first full season at Porto he contributed with 18 games and two goals in the league, but the competition was lost in the penultimate round to neighbours Boavista FC.

After not being able to fully break into the first team (having also served a six-month loan stint at Vitória F.C. and a full loan with Derby County in the Football League Championship, the latter in the 2003–04 season, where he scored once against West Bromwich Albion), Costa joined S.C. Braga for 2004–05, also not being successful in two seasons – 29 league appearances combined.

Costa, who had started his career as a winger, joined C.F. Os Belenenses in the 2006–07 campaign, ultimately reconverting into the right back position and becoming an undisputed starter for the capital 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.