Nuno Gomes - TheSportsDB.com

Home / Sport / Soccer / _No League Soccer / _Retired Soccer / Nuno Gomes

Name
Nuno Gomes

Thumb

Image Source: Unknown report

User Rating

(0 users)

Complete

50%

Born
1976 (47 years old)

Birth Place

Amarante, Portugal

Position
Forward

Status

Ethnicity
White

Team Number

Height
181 cm

Outfitter

Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

Player Cutout

Player Action Render

Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

Creative Commons Artwork
No

Description
Available in:

Nuno Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro OIH (born 5 July 1976), known as Nuno Gomes, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He was given the nickname Gomes during childhood after Fernando Gomes, and was regarded one of the country's most recognisable attacking players in the 1990s and 2000s; he consistently scored for both club and country, and was also capable of being a good link-up player, accumulating a number of assists throughout his career, which was spent mainly with Benfica, for which he netted 166 goals in 398 games over the course of 12 seasons.

Gomes represented Portugal in two World Cups and three European Championships. He helped the national team finish second at Euro 2004 and third at Euro 2000, and won 79 senior caps.

Gomes represented Portugal at every level, earning 143 caps all categories comprised and scoring at an excellent rate overall. He helped the under-20s finish third in the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship by netting four goals in as many games, including two in the third-place game against Spain; the following year he appeared at the 1996 Summer Olympics, helping to a fourth place.

Gomes made his senior international debut at 19, in a 1996 friendly against France. He scored his first goal in Portugal's opening match at the UEFA Euro 2000, marking his fourth start with the winner as the side came from two goals down to beat England 3–2. He would finish the competition with four goals as the national team reached the last four, but earned a seven-month international ban after pushing referee Günter Benkö following the semi-final defeat by France, in which he had opened the score; he was selected to the UEFA team of the tournament.

With seven goals in only six matches, Gomes helped Portugal qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup – this included a four-goal performance in a 7–1 away demolition of Andorra. He would struggle to hold a starting place in the finals in South Korea and Japan, only appearing twice from the bench; on 19 November 2003 he scored his second hat-trick, in only 21 minutes of play against Kuwait.

Things went better for Gomes at Euro 2004, where he played each game and, after coming on as a half-time substitute, scored the winning goal against Spain to send the hosts through to the quarter-finals. He was often injured during the nation's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, only managing to play four times, with one goal; he found limited time at the final stages and only made two appearances, but managed to find the back of the net with a header against hosts Germany in the third-place playoff, a 1–3 defeat.

After the retirement of Pauleta, Gomes was expected to become his successor in the striker role. He played ten matches and scored three times in Euro 2008's qualifying campaign, captained Portugal at the finals and scored against Germany in the quarter-finals, thus becoming the fourth player to score at three straight European Championships.

After the appointment of Carlos Queiroz as coach, Gomes was constantly left out of the squad due to his lack of minutes at his club. During the 2010 World Cup qualification, he only took part in four out of twelve matches, all as a substitute, with Liédson and Hugo Almeida being preferred; he was later on left out of the 23-men squad for the final stages in South Africa, this being the first time the player was left out of a major tournament.

On 7 October 2011, after more than two years out of international play, 35-year-old Gomes replaced Hélder Postiga in the last minute of a 5–3 home victory over Iceland for the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Four days later, he played against Denmark in what was his last full appearance; due to little playing time for his club in 2011–12, he was left out of Paulo Bento's squad for the finals in Poland and Ukraine.

Gomes' younger brother, Tiago (born 1981), was also a footballer and a striker. He spent most of his career in the lower leagues but, from 2004 to 2007, competed in the Segunda Liga with F.C. Marco (two seasons) and C.D. Olivais e Moscavide (one), amassing overall totals of 30 games and one goal.

Gomes was married twice, first to Isméria with whom he had a daughter, Laura, born in 1999. In July 2006 he married lawyer Patrícia Aguilar, with whom he also fathered another child, born in July 2010.

He was featured on the cover of the Portuguese edition of FIFA Football 2002.