Pedro Costa (footballer, born 1981)

Pedro Miguel de Castro Brandão Costa (born 21 November 1981) is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played mainly as a right-back.

Club career
Costa was born in Arouca, Aveiro District. A product of Boavista's youth system that still appeared with modest Gondomar and Famalicão in his early years as a senior, he joined Primeira Liga club Braga in the 2002–03 campaign. He made his first-team debut on 26 April 2003, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 1–3 home loss against S.L. Benfica.

After only 37 league appearances for Braga over five seasons – he was also regularly utilised by the reserves in the third division during his stint – Costa moved to Associação Académica de Coimbra for the 2007–08 season. Again mainly used as a backup with the Students, he appeared on both sides of the defensive sector when called upon, playing a career-best with the professionals 22 games in his second year as the team finished in seventh position.

In June 2011, after having appeared in 11 league matches in the season (13 overall), 30-year-old Costa left Académica and signed for F.C. Arouca in the Segunda Liga, where he started playing football as a youngster.