Paulo Ferreira

Paulo Ferreira
Personal information
Full name Paulo Renato Rebocho Ferreira
Date of birth 18 January 1979 (1979-01-18) (age 32)
Place of birth Cascais, Portugal
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Full back
Club information
Current club Chelsea
Number 19
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1998–2000 Estoril-Praia 37 (2)
2000–2002 Vitória de Setúbal 69 (2)
2002–2004 Porto 62 (0)
2004– Chelsea 114 (0)
National team‡
1998 - 2000 Portugual U21 27 (0)
2002 – 2010 Portugal 62 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:39, 8 June 2010 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:00, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Paulo Renato Rebocho Ferreira (born 18 January 1979 in Cascais, Portugal) is a Portuguese football player who currently plays as a defender at full back for Chelsea in the English Premier League.

On August 30, 2010, it was announced that Ferreira retired from the Portuguese national team after 62 caps.

Contents

Club career

Early career

An unspectacular but consistent performer, Ferreira was once described by José Mourinho as "a player who will never be man of the match but will always score 7/10 for his individual display."

He started his career in the Portuguese second division for Estoril-Praia. He then moved to Vitória de Setúbal at the start of the 2000–01 season.

Porto

Due to his excellent performances in the Portuguese first division, he moved to FC Porto in the summer of 2002, signed by then-coach José Mourinho. Ferreira was previously a right-side midfielder until he met Mourinho at Porto.

In the following season, he won the League and Cup double domestically but the capture of the UEFA Cup over Celtic in Seville was the highlight of an exceptional season. The next season brought another Portuguese Liga title but more importantly he played every minute of Porto's UEFA Champions League win.

Chelsea

After playing for Porto for two years, he joined Chelsea for £13.2 million at the beginning of the Premiership 2004–2005 season. At Stamford Bridge, Ferreira was reunited with his former manager José Mourinho and former teammate Ricardo Carvalho, both of whom were also signed by Chelsea in the off-season. Ferreira impressed greatly in his debut season, playing 29 Premier League matches before injury ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign. He continued his fine form into the following campaign, during which he scored his first Chelsea goal in the 3–1 victory over Colchester United in the FA Cup fourth round.[1]

Despite becoming a regular on the manager's team sheet, Ferreira suffered from a lack of confidence in the 2006–07 season and eventually lost his place first to Khalid Boulahrouz, and then to midfielder Geremi. The emergence of young French midfielder Lassana Diarra further reduced the playing time for Ferreira, as Mourinho saw it fit to play the French international in the full back position. However, Ferreira did play the full 120 minutes of Chelsea's 1–0 FA Cup final win over Manchester United.

He was the second choice right back for Chelsea during the 2007–08 season, behind Michael Essien and Juliano Belletti. When played, Ferreira was his usual consistent self, putting in unspectacular, workman-like performances. Ferreira signed a new five-year deal with Chelsea on 18 February 2008, which would keep him at the club until 2013 and agreed a squad number swap from 20 to 19 for the 2008–09 season following Deco's arrival. A rumour on the last day of the transfer window suggested that Ferreira was on the verge of joining Chelsea's London rivals West Ham United, either on a season long loan deal or a permanent deal. The rumour turned out to be false, however.[2] He suffered an injury late in the 2008–09 season, stuck on 99 Premier League games. Paulo Ferriera finally made his appearance for Chelsea in a League Cup match against west London rivals Queens Park Rangers on 23 September 2009. He had been out with an injury since January.[3] He scored just his second ever Chelsea goal, a late equaliser in extra-time in the League Cup quarter-final against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in the dying moments, however, Chelsea went on to lose on penalties.

Due to injuries of full backs such as Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa and more recently Branislav Ivanovic, he has been given a more consistent role in the starting eleven, being paired at the full back positions with Yuri Zhirkov. Most significantly in the 7–1 win against Aston Villa and the 2–1 victory against Manchester United. Ferreira made 20 appearances in total, scoring 1 goal in all competitions for Chelsea in the 2009-10 season, playing 13 Premier League games, and starting seven FA Cup and League Cup ties respectively.

International career

Portuguese defenders defending against a freekick (left to right:Ferreira, Pepe, Carvalho, and Bosingwa)

Ferreira was called up for the Portugual under-21 and accumulated 27 caps.

He was called up to the national team for Portugal's UEFA Euro 2004 campaign and started their opening game against a lowly Greece side, but a series of mistakes in the game saw him dropped for Miguel for the rest of the tournament. He did, however, come on in Portugal's huge upset defeat against Greece in the final, following an injury to Miguel.

Paulo made two appearances for Portugal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In the semi-final against France, which Portugal lost 1–0, Ferreira came on in the second half for the injured Miguel. He then started the third place playoff against the host country Germany, which the Germans won 3–1.

Ferreira faces competition from José Bosingwa and Miguel for the Portugal right-back slot and is often played at left-back since the retirement of Nuno Valente.

Ferreira was named in the Portuguese Squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 championships. Portugal were knocked out in the quarter-finals and Ferreira was a starter in all of their four matches, playing at left back.

A regular in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Ferreira would then be included in the 23-men squad to represent the Selecção das Quinas in the final stages of the tournament where he only played the opening game.

On August 30, 2010, Ferreira announced he would be also retiring from the national team, shortly after Simão Sabrosa did. Internationally, Ferreira represented Portugal 62 times and played in four tournaments (UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008 and 2010 FIFA World Cup).

Career statistics

[1]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Portugal League Taça de Portugal Taça da Liga Europe Total
1997–98 Estoril-Praia 1 0
1998–99 15 0
1999-00 21 2
2000–01 Vitória de Setúbal 34 2
2001–02 34 0
2002–03 Porto Portuguese Liga 30 0
2003–04 32 0
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2004–05 Chelsea Premier League 29 0 1 0 5 0 7 0 42 0
2005–06 21 0 3 1 1 0 6 0 31 1
2006–07 24 0 5 0 2 0 6 0 37 0
2007–08 18 0 3 0 2 0 5 0 28 0
2008–09 7 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 12 0
2009–10 13 0 4 0 3 1 0 0 20 1
Total Portugal 167 4
England 112 0 17 1 15 1 26 0 170 2
Career total 279 4

Honours

Club

Porto

Chelsea

International

Portugal

Orders

References

External links