Rui Esteves

Rui Manuel Guerreiro Nobre Esteves (born 30 January 1967) is a retired Portuguese professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 93 games and five goals over the course of five seasons, in representation of Farense, Vitória de Setúbal, Benfica and Belenenses.

Career

Born in Lisbon, Esteves made his professional debuts at the age of 18, playing for several teams in the Portuguese second division, most of them hailing from the Algarve region: S.C.U. Torreense, S.C. Olhanense and Louletano DC. His top level debuts occurred in the 1990–91 season, but he played just six times for S.C. Farense and resumed his career in the second level, representing old acquaintances Louletano and Torreense.

Late in 1994, after having helped Vitória de Setúbal finish sixth in the top flight, Esteves earned himself a transfer to S.L. Benfica, but never settled with his hometown side, playing for a third club in the campaign as he was loaned to England's Birmingham City.

He returned to Portugal in the following summer, playing two years for Benfica neighbours C.F. Os Belenenses, also in division one, and closed out his career at 33 after spells in Asia, with K-League's Daewoo Royals and in the Chinese Jia-A League with Beijing Guoan.

In 2001 Esteves began working as a coach, starting with Associação Desportiva Fazendense and going on to work with Grupo Desportivo Alcochetense and C.D. Olivais e Moscavide in the following two years. In December 2008 he was appointed at G.D. Fabril, and never managed in higher than the third division.