Sérgio Conceição

Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro Conceição (pron. ) (born November 15, 1974 in Coimbra) is a Portuguese footballer, currently a midfielder for PAOK Thessaloniki FC in the Greek Super League. Speedy and strong on the right flank, he also weighs in with his fair share of goals, and is a good crosser of the ball.

Coimbra's municipality governors named a local 2,500-seater stadium after him - the Estádio Municipal Sérgio Conceição.

Club career

Conceição began his career playing for the youth teams of his hometown's Académica Coimbra. Then he played in the second division, consecutively for FC Penafiel, Leça FC and FC Felgueiras before moving to FC Porto in 1996. Two hugely successful years with Porto saw Conceição’s marauding runs down the right flank, combined with a good goalscoring record, help his team to back-to-back domestic championships and a Portuguese Cup triumph. In total, at Porto, he won 3 Portuguese leagues, 1 cup and 1 Supercup, netting 9 times in 63 league appearances (1996-98, January-June 2004).

Lazio

Conceição joined S.S. Lazio for €11.2 million, and played a significant part in their UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1998-99 success, while also scoring five goals in 33 games in his first Serie A season. He also helped the side to a scudetto, an Italian Cup (in a 2000 double) and the 1999 UEFA Super Cup.

Parma

In July 2000, he transferred to Parma AC. The following season, Conceição was used as a makeweight in the transfer of Sébastien Frey, which saw him go to Inter Milan while Frey went in the other direction.

Inter Milan

Conceição was a starter for Inter Milan for a season before he moved back home to FC Porto.

FC Porto

He would eventually leave Inter by mutual agreement, and re-joined Lazio, leaving for another familiar side, FC Porto, towards the end of 2003-04, again by mutual agreement.

Standard Liège

In 2004 he signed for Belgian club Standard Liège on a one-year deal. He won the Belgian Golden Shoe for best player of the year in 2005. In March 2006, he was suspended for 3 years (4.5 months and the rest suspended), depending on good behaviour, for spitting on a player and assaulting a referee. After the 2006-07 season, Conceição decided to move to Kuwait as he joined Al Qadisiya, after failing to win silverware with Standard, finishing runner-up in 2005-06's league and losing the 2007 cup final.

PAOK Thessaloniki

In January 2008, however, he moved to PAOK FC, Thessaloniki, after signing a 18-month contract. His signing was largely attributed to the successful intervention of PAOK technical director (and former player) Zisis Vryzas. Though he struggled to find a place in the starting eleven, he was given the number 7 shirt, once worn by legendary former player (and current chairman) Theodoros Zagorakis. He is currently the captain of PAOK after playing well with them in pre-saeson friendlies agains Udinese, CSKA Sofia, PSV Eindhoven and Partizan Belgrade all resulting in victories for the Greek side.

International career

Conceição gained 56 caps for the Portugal national football team, scoring 12 goals, his debut being against Ukraine on 9 November 1996, a 1-0 home win in a World Cup qualifier). In his last international game he was on the losing end of a 3-0 friendly defeat at the hands of Spain, on 6 September 2003.

Early in his international career, Conceição was not known for his scoring prowess but, at Euro 2000, Portugal reached the semi-finals with a major contribution from him. In the third and final match of the group stage, against defending champions Germany in Rotterdam, Conceição bagged a hat-trick, scoring all of the match's goals. Portugal had guaranteed first place in the first two games, so the side played mostly with substitutes, but Conceição cemented his place in the starting eleven for the rest of the tournament and subsequent call-ups.

In qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, Conceição scored four goals as Portugal finished atop a group that also featured the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands (netting against both). He was not recalled since 2003.

References

External links

• Stats and profile at zerozero.pt