Full name Carlos Narciso Chainho Years Team Height 1.80 m | 1987–1990 Carcavelos Role Footballer Name Carlos Chainho | |
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Date of birth (1974-07-10) 10 July 1974 (age 41) | ||
Carlos Narciso Chaínho (born 10 July 1974 in Luanda, Portuguese Angola) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.
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Club career
After having played for modest clubs in the Lisbon area while growing up, Chaínho started playing professionally with C.F. Estrela da Amadora, moving in 1998 to the Primeira Liga with FC Porto. His best season at the latter side was in 1999–2000 when he started in 25 of the 28 league matches he appeared in and scored twice, but they lost the championship to Sporting Clube de Portugal.
In 2001, Chaínho had his first overseas experience, playing in Spain with Real Zaragoza and travelling to Greece the next season to work with Fernando Santos (a coach he knew well from his Porto days) at Panathinaikos FC. After a very poor season overall – the team failed to win any silverware and he only appeared six times in the Superleague – he returned to Portugal in 2003, playing four years in Madeira, two with C.S. Marítimo and two more with C.D. Nacional; the latter released him in July 2007, and the 33-year-old subsequently signed for Alki Larnaca F.C. of Cyprus.
After one season in Larnaca, Chaínho spent the first half of the 2008–09 campaign as a free agent, signing in February 2009 with Iran's Shahin Bushehr FC. He retired in the summer, having amassed Portuguese top flight totals of 299 games and 14 goals.
International career
Chaínho represented Portugal at under-21 level. In 2006 he received a call-up from the Angola national team, but FIFA confirmed that he was not eligible to represent teams other than Portugal.