José Gaspar da Silva Azevedo (born 1 June 1975), known simply as Gaspar, is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a central defender.

Gaspar
Personal information
Full name José Gaspar da Silva Azevedo
Date of birth (1975-06-01) 1 June 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Santo Tirso, Portugal
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Youth career
1987–1993 Trofense
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1995 Trofense
1995–1996 Tirsense 25 (2)
1996–1997 Vitória Setúbal 28 (0)
1997–2001 Porto 9 (1)
1998–1999Leça (loan) 22 (2)
1999–2000Alverca (loan) 26 (1)
2000–2001Paços Ferreira (loan) 14 (2)
2001–2002 Alverca 22 (1)
2002–2004 Gil Vicente 61 (9)
2004–2005 Ajaccio 16 (0)
2005–2007 Belenenses 34 (0)
2007–2012 Rio Ave 130 (7)
2012–2013 Covilhã 31 (1)
2013–2014 Varzim 28 (1)
Total 429 (27)
International career
1996–1997 Portugal U21 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Gaspar was born in Santo Tirso, Porto District. During the vast majority of his career, he rarely spent more than one season with the same club. He represented C.D. Trofense, F.C. Tirsense (where he made his Primeira Liga debut), Vitória de Setúbal, FC Porto (which were crowned league champions at the end of the 1997–98 campaign, but he was only fourth of fifth choice in his position), Leça FC – in a brief return to the Segunda LigaF.C. Alverca (he represented the Lisbon side on two occasions),[1] F.C. Paços de Ferreira and Gil Vicente FC.[2]

In the 2004–05 campaign, Gaspar played for AC Ajaccio in France, appearing in 16 Ligue 1 matches, then switched back to his country with C.F. Os Belenenses.[3] At the age of already 32 he would settle at Rio Ave FC, helping the Vila do Conde team to return to the top division in his first season[2] while adding a round-of-16 presence in the Taça de Portugal.[4]

From 2008 to 2011, Gaspar only missed five league matches for Rio Ave, also netting three goals as the club consecutively managed to retain its league status.[5][2] In July 2012, having made a total of 322 appearances in the Portuguese top tier (19 goals), he signed for one year with S.C. Covilhã of division two.[2]

Post-retirement

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After retiring, Gaspar worked in precision metalworking.[2]

Honours

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Porto

References

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  1. ^ Cipriano, Vanda; Antão, Vasco (17 August 1999). "Gaspar: "Ser do FC Porto não me vai favorecer no Alverca"" [Gaspar: "Being of FC Porto will not bring me benefits at Alverca"]. Record (in Portuguese). Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Simões de Abreu, Alexandra (9 March 2019). ""Cheguei ao balneário, cheirava mal, começo a dizer 'cheira mal'. Porquê? No WC, o filho da mãe do Cândido limpou-se à minha camisola"" ["I enter the locker room, it smelled, I start saying ‘it smells’. Why? In the WC, that son of a bitch Cândido wiped himself on my shirt"]. Expresso (in Portuguese). Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Gaspar: "Já fui abordado"" [Gaspar: "I have been approached"]. Record (in Portuguese). 10 June 2005. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Marcelinho bisa e dá 'quartos'" [Marcelinho grabs brace to give 'last-eight']. Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). 11 February 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  5. ^ "Paulo Santos: «A esperança de vida também aumentou»" [Paulo Santos: "Life expectancy is also bigger"]. Record (in Portuguese). 19 November 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b Alvarenga, Vítor Hugo (5 May 2016). "Gaspar: um histórico da Liga na metalomecânica de precisão" [Gaspar: League legend in precision metalworking] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
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