Vítor Baía

Vítor Manuel Martins Baía, OIH, [' vitɔɾ bɐ'iɐ ] (born 15 October 1969 in São Pedro da Afurada, Portugal ) is a former Portuguese football player.

In his career as a goalkeeper he won numerous international titles and played 80 games for the Portuguese national team. In May 2007, he finished his career.

Career

Vítor Baía began his career at FC Leca, but already changed the age of thirteen to the youth department of FC Porto. On September 11, 1989, he was, at the age of 19 years, first appointed to the first team for the match against Vitória Guimarães by Artur Jorge. He replaced Józef Młynarczyk of the national champion trophy with Porto won two years earlier because he had injured his shoulder. From this time he did not lose his place. In the national squad, he became the first-choice goalkeeper. He made his debut on 19 December 1990 in the match against the USA. In his first time at FC Porto, he won the Portuguese Cup five times, the Portuguese Cup and twice.

After participating in the European Football Championship in 1996, he spent eight million euros to FC Barcelona, ​​coached by Bobby Robson. The change made ​​him the most expensive goalkeeper of his time. After a good first season, which ended with winning the Spanish Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup, he was injured in August 1997 at the knee, which prevented him for almost two seasons of playing. Even when he was fit again, he was no longer employed by his coach Louis van Gaal as a goalkeeper. This confided to his compatriot Ruud Hesp.

In January 1999, he returned to FC Porto after he was no longer set in Barcelona. He took over the jersey with the number 99, the year of his return to FC Porto, as well as the number 1 was already taken. There he came to its former strength, and won in 2000, again a title, the Portuguese Cup. His strong performances also led to the nomination for the European Football Championship 2000, where he stopped in semi, after a penalty was eliminated. In the 2000 /01 season, he injured his knee again. The injury was considered by many to be end of his career, but the end of the 2001/02 season he was back on the court and was appointed to the Executive of the Portuguese national team for the World Cup 2002. Surprisingly, he was declared a goalkeeper, although he had not played a qualifying match, which Ricardo Boavista Porto lost his place. After leaving in the first round Baía was never called back by the then national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari for the national team, although he played in the coming years at the top level.

In the season 2002/ 03 he managed with FC Porto, under the guidance of José Mourinho, the triple. He won the Portuguese Championship, the Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Cup against Celtic in Seville. A season later, he again won the championship and also no UEFA Champions League against AS Monaco in Gelsenkirchen. The UEFA appointed him even at the best goalkeeper of the season. But not even brought this award he was nominated for the 2004 European Football Championship on home soil.

As Co Adriaanse in the 2005/06 season was coach of Porto, Baía lost at the end of 2005, his place at Helton. This he could never reclaim up to the End of career. In his last season, he came off the bench in the last game, to play the final minutes in his career and to complete the 700 application for FC Porto.

Honors

Title

• Portuguese Soccer Champion (10x): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007
• Portuguese Cup Winners (5x): 1991, 1994, 2000, 2003, 2006
• Portuguese Super Cup ( 8x): 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006
• Spanish Football Champion: 1998
• Copa del Rey: 1997, 1998
• Spanish Supercup: 1998
• European Cup Winners' Cup: 1997
• UEFA Cup: 2003
• Champions League: 2004
• UEFA Super Cup: 1998
• World Cup: 2004

Awards

• World's Best Goalkeeper (L' Équipe ): 1993
• Europe's Goalkeeper of the Year: 2004
• UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year: 2004
• Footballer of the Year of Portugal: 1989, 1991
• Goalkeeper of the Year ( Portugal): 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
• Goalkeeper of the Year ( Spain): 1997
• Order of Prince Henry: 2008

Trivia

• He was the first Portuguese national football team, who completed 75 missions for the national team.
• Since 2004 he holds the record with 1192 minutes for the longest time without conceding a goal in the Portuguese league.
• In the jubilee time capsule of UEFA, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, a pair of goalkeeper gloves of Baía were added.