Sanches Leal was born in Setúbal, Portugal, but raised in the Grigny suburb of Paris.[3] After his professional football career ended, he started a building firm in Paris.[4][5]
Football career
Sanches Leal began his football career as a youngster with his local club, Viry-Châtillon,[6] before joining the youth system of Cannes. While with Cannes, he won six caps for Portugal at under-17 level,[1] which included all three of Portugal's group matches at the 2002 UEFA Under-17 Championships.[7] He played once for the club's first team in the Championnat National (the third tier of French football)[8] before returning to the Paris area in summer 2004 where he joined Créteil, primarily as a backup player.[9]
He made his Ligue 2 debut on July 29, 2005, as a second-half substitute in a 3–2 victory over Caen.[10] Over the 2005–06 season, he appeared in seventeen Ligue 2 matches, and was rewarded with his first professional contract.[11] Sanches Leal spent the following season on loan at Cherbourg, where he scored twice from 25 appearances in the Championnat National.[8] A groin injury sustained shortly before the end of the season kept him out until December 2007, when he returned to action with Créteil's reserves.[12] He made two assists on his return to the first team – who had been relegated in his absence – in January,[6] and finished the season with 13 league appearances. He played only infrequently in 2008–09,[8] and left the club at the end of the season.
After a trial,[13] he signed for Drancy, bottom of the Championnat de France amateur (CFA).[14] The new blood helped Drancy retain their fourth-tier status, and Sanches Leal moved sideways, to Villemomble.[15] In January 2011, he walked out of the stadium before the start of a match against Noisy to express his unhappiness at being omitted from the starting eleven.[16] He did not play for the club again,[2] only returning to football in June 2012 after more than a year out, when he signed for CFA club Viry-Châtillon, for whom he had played as a youngster.[3][6]
References
^ abc"Sub 17: Wilson". Portuguese Football Federation. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
^ abcBianchi, Stéphane (January 25, 2008). "Sanches-Leal, le revenant" [Sanches-Leal, the return]. Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved November 27, 2013.
^Corby, Stéphane (July 30, 2005). "Créteil démarre fort" [Créteil start strong]. Le Parisien (in French). Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
^Métayer, Bertrand (May 29, 2006). "Créteil a de la réserve" [Créteil has reserves]. Le Parisien (in French). Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
^"Wilson Sanches Leal a repris" [Wilson Sanches Leal is back] (in French). US Créteil-Lusitanos. December 4, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
^"Papys Mbodji séduit Créteil" [Papys Mbodji is attracting Créteil]. Le Parisien (in French). October 2, 2009. Retrieved November 27, 2013.