Jorge Paulo Costa Almeida (born 14 October 1971), known as Costa, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a central defender.

Nicknamed Bicho (animal) and Tanque (tank^[1]) by his colleagues and fans for his aggressive and physical playing style, he played most of his professional career with Porto, being team captain for several seasons and winning a total of 24 major titles, notably eight national championships and the 2004 UEFA Champions League.

Having earned 50 caps for Portugal, Costa represented the nation at one World Cup and one European Championship. After retiring, he worked as a manager for several clubs.

Club career

Born in Porto, Costa made his professional debuts with F.C. Penafiel, on loan from hometown's FC Porto. The following season he was also loaned, to fellow top flight club C.S. Marítimo, playing 31 games including a controversial one in the Estádio das Antas where he scored an own goal; despite it being clearly unintentional the accusations of scoring for his team continued, forcing Porto's president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa to forbid further loaned players to play against Porto, a decision that stood for several decades.

In the 1992–93 campaign, Costa finally joined FC Porto, slowly making his way. Five seasons later he switched to jersey No. 2, previously worn by João Domingos Pinto, also being named team captain as the veteran retired. His career three only met four black spots: two serious knee injuries (during 1995–96, which ruled him out of UEFA Euro 1996 and during 1997's pre-season in Sweden) and a feud with coach Octávio Machado early in 2001–02, which forced him into "exile" at Charlton Athletic.^[2] However, the image of Costa as the captain went untouched, and Porto fans turned against Machado with massive criticism of his team management and coaching, eventually forcing him outside the club.

Additionally, in 1996–97's UEFA Champions League, Costa was involved in an incident with A.C. Milan's George Weah on 20 November 1996, with the Liberian breaking his nose, alleging that he had been racially abused.^[3] Costa strenuously denied the accusations of racism and was not charged by UEFA as no witnesses could verify Weah's allegations, not even his Milan teammates. Weah, on the other hand, was suspended for six matches, and later attempted to apologise to Costa but this was rebuffed by the Portuguese, who considered the charges of racist insults levelled against him to be defamatory and took the Liberian to court;^[4] the incident resulted in the latter being sidelined for three weeks, also having to undergo facial surgery.

With José Mourinho in charge, Costa returned to Porto next season, and was unanimously chosen as captain of a side that went on to win a championship-cup-UEFA Cup treble, making him the third Porto captain in a row to lift cups at international level (following Pinto and Fernando Gomes). The player's winning streak continued as the next season he lifted the Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup.

In January 2006, after having been deemed surplus to requirements by new coach Co Adriaanse, Costa signed for Standard Liège from Belgium, reuniting with former Porto teammate Sérgio Conceição,^[5] and helped his new side to a runner-up finish in the league. He decided to retire from the game in June after alleging personal reasons, despite having a running contract until 2007.

In the 2006–07 season, Costa began his coaching career with S.C. Braga, first as assistant to Rogério Gonçalves, whom he replaced in February 2007. In his first season he led the Minho side to the fourth place and the semifinals of the domestic cup, also reaching the round-of-16 in the UEFA Cup, being ousted by Tottenham Hotspur 4–6 on aggregate.

After again guiding Braga to the UEFA Cup group stage, Costa was fired midway through his second year.^[6] He then moved to second level's S.C. Olhanense in the following campaign, eventually finishing the season as champions and returning the Algarve team to the first division after 34 years.^[7] After helping Olhanense to the 13th position in the following campaign – thus safe from relegation – he left the club, joining another top division club, Académica de Coimbra.

On 21 December 2010, Costa announced his departure from Académica and his retirement from coaching, citing personal reasons.^[8] The team was placed in ninth position after the 14th round, eventually narrowly escaping relegation. In May 2011, however, he announced his comeback, signing a contract with Romania's CFR Cluj.^[9]

On 24 October 2012, AEL Limassol FC appointed Costa as their new manager, on the eve of a Europa League group stage tie against Fenerbahçe SK.^[10] In the following summer he moved teams but stayed in Cyprus, penning a 1+1 deal with Anorthosis Famagusta FC.^[11]

From 2014 until November 2016, Costa coached the Gabon national team, being ousted from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations group stage after one win and two losses.^[12]

International career

With Portugal, Costa and Fernando Couto were considered the best defensive duo in UEFA Euro 2000. The former retired from international football after the 2002 FIFA World Cup, having played in 50 games; in the latter competition he scored an own goal as the national side lost 2–3 to the United States,^[13] eventually exiting in the group stage.

Previously, in 1991, Costa was an undisputed starter as the Portuguese team won the FIFA U-20 World Cup.^[14][15]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	15 November 2000	Estádio Primeiro de Maio, Braga, Portugal	Israel	2–0	2–1	Friendly
2	13 February 2002	Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona, Spain	Spain	0–1	1–1	Friendly Template:Ig footer Career statistics Club Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Penafiel (loan) 1990–91 23 3 0 0 – – 23 3 Marítimo (loan) 1991–92 31 1 0 0 – – 31 1 Total 54 4 0 0 – – 54 4 Porto 1992–93 8 1 1 0 6 1 – 15 2 1993–94 13 0 3 1 6 0 – 22 1 1994–95 13 1 3 1 4 1 – 20 3 1995–96 21 1 3 1 3 0 1 0 28 2 1996–97 26 4 4 0 7 0 2 1 39 5 1997–98 13 0 4 0 0 0 – 17 0 1998–99 33 2 1 0 5 0 2 0 41 2 1999–00 31 1 4 0 12 1 2 0 49 2 2000–01 20 1 3 0 10 0 2 0 35 1 2001–02 6 1 0 0 6 0 1 0 13 1 Total 184 12 26 3 59 3 10 1 279 19 Charlton Athletic (loan) 2001–02 24 0 2 0 – – 26 0 Total 24 0 2 0 – – 26 0 Porto 2002–03 26 2 3 1 12 0 – 41 3 2003–04 19 1 2 0 10 0 1 0 32 1 2004–05 22 1 0 0 7 1 2 0 31 2 Total 67 4 5 1 29 1 3 0 104 6 Standard Liège 2005–06 13 0 0 0 – – 13 0 Total 13 0 0 0 – – 13 0 Career Total 342 20 33 4 88 4 13 1 476 29 International [16] National team Year Apps Goals Portugal 1992 1 0 1993 4 0 1995 9 0 1996 2 0 1997 3 0 1998 3 0 1999 2 0 2000 13 1 2001 6 0 2002 7 1 Total 50 2 Honours Player Club Porto Primeira Liga: 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2003–04 Taça de Portugal: 1993–94, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004 UEFA Champions League: 2003–04 UEFA Cup: 2002–03 Intercontinental Cup: 2004 Country Portugal FIFA U-20 World Cup: 1991 Manager Club Olhanense Segunda Liga: 2008–09 Cluj Liga I: 2011–12 References ^ Euro 2000 profile; BBC Sport ^ Charlton complete Costa move; BBC Sport, 18 April 2002 ^ Match report; at RSSSF ^ "Court postpones Weah trial". BBC Sport. 28 February 2001. Archived from the original on 2 April 2003. Retrieved 22 September 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) ^ Jorge Costa to help Standard fly; UEFA.com, 12 December 2005 ^ Liga lethargy costs Jorge Costa; UEFA.com, 30 October 2007 ^ "Olhanense campeão" (in Portuguese). LPFP. Retrieved 18 May 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) ^ "Futebol: Jorge Costa acaba carreira desportiva de forma surpreendente e misteriosa" (in Portuguese). Multi Desportos. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) ^ "Jorge Costa confirmado no Cluj" (in Portuguese). Relvado. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) ^ Ο Ζόρζε Κόστα νέος προπονητής (in Greek). AEL Limassol. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) ^ ΤΑ ΗΝΙΑ ΣΤΟΝ ΖΟΡΖΕ ΚΟΣΤΑ (in Greek). Anorthosis FC. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) ^ "Gabon preps in disarray as coach leaves". BBC Sport. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016. ^ USA stun Portugal; BBC Sport, 5 June 2002 ^ Jorge Costa – FIFA competition record (archived) ^ "Geração de ouro faz 20 anos" (in Portuguese). Diário de Notícias. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) ^ "Jorge Costa". European Football. Retrieved 31 March 2017. External links Template:Zerozero Jorge Costa at ForaDeJogo (archived) Jorge Costa manager stats at ForaDeJogo (archived) Jorge Costa at Soccerbase Jorge Costa at National-Football-Teams.com