Maniche
Maniche at FC Cologne 1
Nuno Ricardo de Oliveira Ribeiro [ mɐniʃɯ̆ ] ( born November 11, 1977 in Lisbon ) is a former Portuguese footballer, who was both on the left side as well as centrally usable.
Career
In the club
He comes from the youth of Benfica and was awarded to FC Alverca 1995-1998. After his return, he played three years in Benfica's starting line-, scoring fourteen goals.
In 2001 he played because of disagreement with the club's board in the amateurs before he moved to FC Porto, where he won national titles in addition also the UEFA Cup ( 2003) and the UEFA Champions League ( 2004).
In the summer of 2005, he spent nearly twenty million Euros to Dynamo Moscow. On 2 January 2006, he moved on loan to Chelsea, where he was to replace the injured Michael Essien. Essien original representative Geremi was missing due to his participation in the African Nations Cup.
On his return to Moscow Maniche expressed a desire to switch to a southern European club because he felt with the climatic conditions in Russia is not well. He then moved up end of August 2006 for nine million euros for Spanish club Atlético Madrid, where he signed a three-year contract. On January 13, 2008, he gave Atlético Madrid with immediate effect to Inter Milan. For the 2008/09 season he was back on for Atlético. Due to internal problems with the club's management Maniche was canceled at the end of the season from the squad, the contract was terminated prematurely in May. Maniche was presented as new player of the 1st FC Cologne after successful sports medical examination on the afternoon of July 20, 2009 at a press conference in the Austrian training camp. He received a three-year contract with an option for early termination after 2 years.
On 16 May 2010 it was announced that the contract is dissolved on June 30, 2010 as Maniche has expressed a desire to switch to Sporting Lisbon and thus return with his family to Portugal.
In May 2012, since June 2011 without clubs Maniche announced his retirement from professional football.
In the National Team
His national team debut came in a 2-1 victory over Brazil on 29 March 2003. He participated in the 2004 European Championships in part in their own country, where he was Vice-European Champion. In this tournament, he drew attention to himself by a goal in the semi-final against the Netherlands. He also participated in the 2006 World Cup and finished fourth. Maniche completed all seven games of his team, scoring two goals. On 7 July 2006, FIFA announced that Maniche belongs to the a 23- player all-star team in the world championship. For the EM 2008, he was surprisingly not considered. He made his last international match so far on 31 March 2009, the Portuguese 2-0 against South Africa, where he was substituted after 57 minutes. Also for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Maniche was not considered.
Achievements
As a national player
- European Championship runner-up: 2004
- World Cup Fourth: 2006
With its clubs
- Portuguese champions: 2003, 2004
- Portuguese Cup winner: 2003
- UEFA Cup: 2003
- Champions League: 2004
- World Cup: 2004
- Portuguese Super Cup: 2004, 2005
- English Champion: 2006
- Italian Champion: 2008
Others
Maniche bears his stage name in honor of the former Danish Benfica striker Michael Manniche.