PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Carlos Xavier
Personal information
Full name	Carlos Jorge Marques Caldas Xavier
Date of birth	26 January 1962 (age 62)
Place of birth	Lourenço Marques, Mozambique
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1976–1978	Casa Pia
1978–1980	Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years	Team
1980–1991	Sporting CP
1986–1987	→ Académica (loan)
1991–1994	Real Sociedad
1994–1996	Sporting CP
Total
International career
1980	Portugal U18
1981–1985	Portugal U21
1981–1993	Portugal
Managerial career
2004–2005	Estoril (assistant)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Carlos Jorge Marques Caldas Xavier (born 26 January 1962) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a midfielder.

Club career

Born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique, Xavier began his professional career with Lisbon-based Sporting CP, already being a regular first-team fixture at age 19. He played 23 Primeira Liga games as the Lions won the title in the 1981–82 season, which would be the last until 2000.^[1]

In 1991, after more than 250 competitive appearances, Xavier moved, alongside compatriot and teammate Oceano, to Spain's Real Sociedad, where the pair was equally influential, having been reunited with former Sporting boss John Toshack at the La Liga side.^[2]^[3]

Both Xavier and Oceano returned to Sporting in the summer of 1994, and the former played two more years before retiring at the age of 34. In the 2004–05 campaign he had a brief spell at coaching, assisting at another club from the capital and the top division, G.D. Estoril Praia.^[4]

International career

Xavier won ten caps for Portugal,^[5] then switched successfully to its beach soccer team.^[6]

Personal life

Xavier's twin brother, Pedro, was also a footballer. A forward, he represented several teams in the country (coinciding with Carlos at Académica de Coimbra) in an 18-year professional career.^[7]

Xavier lived in Quinta da Beloura, a gated community in Sintra on the Portuguese Riviera.^[4] On 8 September 2023, while speaking to Sporting TV, he referred to FC Porto Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi as "a Muslim who, when he came to Portugal, didn’t know how to swim and now he knows how to dive"; as a result, the club was fined €15,300 by the Portuguese Football Federation.^[8]

Honours

Sporting CP

References

^ ^a ^b Aleixo, Mário (8 January 2016). "Carlos Xavier acredita no Sporting campeão" [Carlos Xavier believes in Sporting becoming champions] (in Portuguese). Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
^ Rodrigálvarez, Eduardo (19 September 1992). "Toshack acusa de indisciplinados a los jugadores de la Real" [Toshack accuses Real players of indiscipline]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 July 2016.
^ Rodríguez, Néstor (23 April 2015). "25 años, 71 extranjeros" [25 years, 71 foreigners]. Noticias de Gipuzkoa (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Carlos Xavier: "O futebol desiludiu-me"" [Carlos Xavier: "Football let me down"] (in Portuguese). Sábado. 6 December 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
^ "Lista completa dos internacionais portugueses" [Complete list of Portuguese internationals] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 18 February 2004. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
^ "Portugal é campeão do mundo de futebol de praia" [Portugal are beach soccer world champions] (in Portuguese). Tribuna Portuguesa. July 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
^ "Gémeos com carreiras lideradas pelo futebol" [Twins with careers led by football]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 22 September 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
^ "Declarações de Carlos Xavier sobre Taremi vale multa ao Sporting" [Carlos Xavier's statements about Taremi award fine to Sporting]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 10 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
^ ""Táctica do pirilau" hipoteca aspirações insulares" ["Wiener tactic" thwarts islanders' aspirations]. Record (in Portuguese). 10 June 2001. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
^ "Histórico da Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira" [Supercup Cândido de Oliveira all-time record] (PDF) (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 11 August 2012. p. 10. Retrieved 16 April 2024.