Quick Facts
Biography
António Manuel Frasco Vieira (born 16 January 1955 in Leça da Palmeira), known as Frasco, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
Best known for his 11-year spell with Porto, he appeared in more than 300 official games for the club and won a total of 13 major titles. He was chosen by Portuguese sports newspaper Record as one of the best 100 Portuguese football players ever.
Frasco earned more than 20 caps for Portugal, representing the nation at Euro 1984.
Club career
In spite of a short height, Frasco's first sport was basketball, but Óscar Marques, a scout from Leixões SC, discovered him and took him to the club. He made his first-team – and Primeira Liga, a competition in which he would play for 15 of his 16 years as a professional – at the age of 18, contributing with ten games as the Matosinhos side barely avoided relegation.
Frasco eventually imposed himself in the first team, as a starter, as Leixões suffered relegation in 1977. In the following year's off-season, however, he signed for FC Porto, after a failed transfer to S.L. Benfica two years earlier. In his first season with the José Maria Pedroto-led side, he played in all 30 matches as the team won the national championship, scoring a career-best six goals in the following campaign, with the league being narrowly lost to Sporting Clube de Portugal, as the domestic cup to Benfica.
After 1986, Frasco began suffering from successive small injuries which diminished his importance in the squad. He still appeared in seven games in Porto's victorious campaign in the European Cup, including 25 minutes in the final against FC Bayern Munich (2–1), eventually retiring in June 1989 at the age of 34.
Frasco then worked as a manager, coaching several teams in no higher than the second division (Leça F.C. in six games, C.D. Aves in ten). He returned to main club Porto in 2006 and worked with several of its youth teams, always as assistant.
International career
On 17 October 1979, Frasco made his debut for Portugal, in a 0–2 loss against Belgium in Brussels for the UEFA Euro 1980 qualifiers. He was one of the most influential players in the successful Euro 1984 campaign, playing in all the games as the national team reached the semi-finals and assisting Nené for the only goal against Romania in the group stage.
Frasco played 28 times over the course of eight years of international play, scoring once.
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 February 1987 | Estádio Primeiro de Maio, Braga, Portugal |  Belgium | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
Honours
- Primeira Liga: 1978–79, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88
- Taça de Portugal: 1983–84, 1987–88; Runner-up 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1984–85
- Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986; Runner-up 1985, 1988
- European Cup: 1986–87
- Intercontinental Cup: 1987
- UEFA Super Cup: 1987
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Runner-up 1983–84