Name Carlos da Playing position Role Footballer | 1998–1995 Gil Vicente Height 1.68 m Years Team | |
Full name Carlos Manuel da Silva Cunha Date of birth (1977-03-06) 6 March 1977 (age 38) | ||
Place of birth Barcelos, Portugal | ||
Carlos Manuel da Silva Cunha (born 6 March 1977), known as Carlitos, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a right winger.
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He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 260 games and 30 goals over the course of 16 seasons, mainly with Gil Vicente (six years). He also spent significant time in the competition with Benfica (four seasons) and Vitória de Guimarães (three).
Club career
Born in Barcelos, Carlitos' career was intimately connected with local Gil Vicente FC, which he represented in four separate spells. He made his first-team – and Primeira Liga – debuts late into 1994–95 at the age of 18, then proceeded to amass a further 58 league appearances in two full seasons combined.
In 1997, Carlitos joined Real Madrid on a four-year contract, being successively loaned to S.C. Braga, C.F. Estrela da Amadora and Gil Vicente again and never appearing in competitive games for the Spaniards. In the latter campaign, he scored a career-best nine goals as the latter club finished in a best-ever fifth position; his teammates included future Portuguese international Petit.
Carlitos then signed with league giants S.L. Benfica, but could never really settle in the starting XI, also being demoted at one point to the reserves. From January 2004 he played for six months in Spain with Polideportivo Ejido, teaming up with former Benfica mate José Calado; he returned to his country and Gil shortly after, playing parts of his last season in the second division and finishing it again in the top level, with C.F. Os Belenenses.
For 2007–08, Carlitos joined Vitória S.C. upon the Minho side's return to the top flight. He would only be used regularly in the first year – 21 matches, ten from the bench – helping to a final third position, but gradually lost his importance in the team; in July 2010 he returned to Gil Vicente, aged 33, appearing in 16 games as the club promoted to the first division and retiring shortly after.