Cândido Costa

Cândido Alves Moreira da Costa (born 30 April 1981) is a Portuguese television personality and former footballer who played as a winger or right-back.

He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 162 games and four goals over ten seasons, representing in the competition Salgueiros, Porto, Vitória de Setúbal, Braga and Belenenses. He also competed professionally in England and Romania.

Porto
Costa was born in São João da Madeira, Aveiro District. Having started his football career with the youth teams of S.L. Benfica, he switched to FC Porto after a brief stint with S.C. Salgueiros (where he made his Primeira Liga debut, in 1999–2000). In his first full season at Porto he contributed with 18 games and two goals in the league, but the title was lost in the penultimate round to neighbours Boavista FC. He was barely used in the 2002–03 title-winning side under José Mourinho, but played twice in the conquest of the UEFA Cup, including the entirety of an inconsequential 2–0 loss at Polonia Warsaw in the first round second leg.

At the start of 2003, Costa was loaned to Vitória F.C. for the remainder of the season. In July, he moved to Derby County of the Football League First Division for a full campaign. He was sent off before half time on 25 August for a foul on Richard Langley in a 4–1 loss at Cardiff City. Over 35 games, he scored once in a 1–1 draw at West Bromwich Albion on 26 December.

Belenenses
Costa joined S.C. Braga for 2004–05, on a three-year deal with the option of two more. He totalled 29 league appearances during his two years in the Minho Province. Having started his career as a winger, he joined C.F. Os Belenenses in the 2006–07 season, ultimately reconverting into the right back position and becoming an undisputed starter for the Lisbon-based team, with nearly 75 league matches in his first three years, scoring against F.C. Paços de Ferreira on 18 March 2007 in a 2–0 away win.

Later career
After only appearing in 11 games in the 2009–10 season due to constant injuries, with Belenenses returning to the second level, 29-year-old Costa had his second abroad experience, signing with Liga I side FC Rapid București on a one-year deal with the option of one more. He returned to his country's second division at F.C. Arouca in July 2011, but suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee days later, and was unused by the time of his one-year transfer to C.D. Tondela of the same league the following June.

In February 2013, Costa signed for SC São João de Ver in the third tier. He reunited with Ricardo Sousa, a former Porto teammate from his hometown. He joined A.D. Ovarense in July of the following year.

After football
After retiring from football, he was unemployed and later became a television personality with consistent appearances on several television programs broadcast by television channels such as Porto Canal, Canal 11 and RTP1. When interviewed on the Alta Definição programme, broadcast on 13 January 2024 by SIC, Cândido Costa recalled the period in his life when he was unemployed after he stopped playing football professionally. He said: "I realised that celebrating life and being happy is as much about playing in the Champions League in a match with 60,000 people as it is about being appointed as a delegate in an IEFP [Portuguese state-run job agency] class."

Honours
Porto
 * Primeira Liga: 2002–03
 * Taça de Portugal: 2000–01, 2002–03
 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: Runner-up 2000
 * UEFA Cup: 2002–03