Hugo Porfírio

Hugo Cardoso Porfírio (born 28 September 1973) is a retired Portuguese footballer who played mostly as a winger.

He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 86 games and ten goals over the course of nine seasons, representing five different clubs. He also competed professionally in England, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

Porfírio appeared for Portugal at Euro 1996.

Football career

Born in Lisbon, Porfírio graduated from Sporting Clube de Portugal's prolific youth academy, joining the professionals for the 1992–93 season alongside Emílio Peixe. After some appearances as a substitute, he had loan spells with fellow first division clubs F.C. Tirsense and U.D. Leiria.

After impressive displays with the latter, Porfírio earned an international callup to the Portuguese national team. After making his debut on 29 May 1996 in a 1–0 win over Ireland, in Dublin, he made the nation's squad-of-22 for UEFA Euro 1996, playing 15 minutes in the 1–0 group stage win against Turkey.

Some months later, Porfírio was also in the roster at the 1996 Olympic Games, where Portugal finished fourth, its best result ever in the competition. On 9 November he received his last cap for the full side, a 1–0 home success over Ukraine for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.