Ricardo Nuno dos Santos Nunes (born 18 June 1986) is a South African former professional footballer who played as a left-back.
Club career
The son of Portuguese parents, Nunes was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved to Portugal where he started practising the sport. He first appeared for G.D. Estoril Praia, joining the club at the age of 12.
After emerging through S.L. Benfica's youth system – he only played for its reserves, spending the 2005–06 campaign in the third division – Nunes continued his senior career in the lower leagues of Greece and Cyprus. It was in Cyprus where he had his first taste of top-flight football, appearing in the First Division for AEP Paphos FC and Olympiakos Nicosia.
On 31 January 2012, after one and a half seasons in the Portuguese Segunda Liga, Nunes signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with MŠK Žilina. In February 2014 he moved teams and countries again, joining Bulgaria's PFC Levski Sofia until June 2015.
Nunes signed for Pogoń Szczecin in the Polish Ekstraklasa on 16 September 2014, and made 153 competitive appearances over a six-year spell.
International career
Although Nunes was born in South Africa, he represented Portugal at under-17 level. This meant that he required permission from FIFA before he could switch allegiance to South Africa, after he had spoken with Gordon Igesund.
In early October 2012, Nunes was named in the South Africa squad for friendlies against Poland and Kenya. During this announcement, Igesund said that "Nunes is a very exciting player" and that he is "a specialist free kick taker". He made his debut on the 12th against Poland, a 1–0 loss in Warsaw.
Honours
Žilina
- Slovak First Football League: 2011–12
- Slovak Cup: 2011–12
References
External links
- Ricardo Nunes at ForaDeJogo (archived)
- Ricardo Nunes at 90minut.pl (in Polish)
- Ricardo Nunes national team profile at the Portuguese Football Federation (in Portuguese)
- Ricardo Nunes at National-Football-Teams.com
- Levski official profile
- Ricardo Nunes at Soccerway
