1985–1987 Academica Role Footballer Years Team Height 1.85 m | 1987–1990 Academica Name Dimas Teixeira | |
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Full name Dimas Manuel Marques Teixeira Date of birth (1969-02-16) 16 February 1969 (age 46) Place of birth Johannesburg, South Africa | ||
Dimas Manuel Marques Teixeira (born 16 February 1969), known simply as Dimas, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a left back.
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In a 15-year senior career he represented both Benfica and Sporting in his country, also having stints in four other nations, most notably with Juventus in Italy.
Having played nearly 45 times for Portugal, Dimas represented the nation in two European Championships.
Football career
The son of Portuguese immigrants in South Africa, Dimas was born in Johannesburg, returning to Europe at an early age. He made his professional debuts in 1987 with Associação Académica de Coimbra, and stayed with the Students for a further two seasons in spite of their relegation to the second division.
Dimas then joined C.F. Estrela da Amadora, which had just won the Portuguese Cup. Thus, he made his European competition debut, helping the Lisbon club reach the second round of the 1990–91 edition of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and subsequently signing for Vitória de Guimarães.
After that, solid defensive performances earned him a move to S.L. Benfica for 1994–95, where Dimas continue to develop as a player, which led to a November 1996 transfer to Serie A side Juventus FC. He appeared in 21 matches during his first full campaign but, only managing one league game in the following, he moved to Turkey on 1 October 1998 with Fenerbahçe SK.
In another winter transfer window, Dimas left Fenerbahçe in 2000 and played six months at Standard Liège. After a good run at UEFA Euro 2000 with Portugal (he made his first international appearance in 1995 while at Benfica, and was the nation's first choice at that and the previous continental competition, playing four games in each), he proved he could still be of value for a title contending team, and returned home after signing for Sporting Clube de Portugal.
After quickly losing the battle for first-choice with fellow international Rui Jorge, mainly due to a right knee injury, Dimas was deemed surplus to requirements, moving on loan to Olympique de Marseille although he still helped Sporting in two matches in his second season, as the capital club conquered the double. He retired at the age of 33, with 44 international caps and 202 Primeira Liga games to his credit.