Full name: Joaquim Manuel Sampaio Silva

Position: Goalkeeper

Date of Birth: 13 November 1975

Birthplace: Vila Nova de Famalicao, Portugal

Certain footballers give the impression that they have been in the game for what seems like forever. Such is the case of goalkeeper, Joaquim Manuel Sampaio Silva, which the footballing world knows simply as Quim.

Although a leading figure in the Portuguese game for well over a decade, at just 31 and in the form of his life, the sight of the unkempt Quim leaping athletically to stop all thrown his way is sure to be around for many a season yet.

Quim, like many of Portugal’s top players, started making a name for himself in the Portugal youth ranks where he won the UEFA Under-18 Championships in 1994. The keeper launched his professional football career later that year with Sporting Braga.

The goalkeeper featured very little in his first three seasons at the club, spending most of his time on the bench as a back up. His patience was rewarded as Quim then solidified his place between the pipes for Braga and never looked back.

Move to the big time

His steady performances earned him his first call up to the senior Portuguese national team in 1999. Quim played a total of nine seasons for Braga and earned several further caps for Portugal. He finally got his chance to move to one of Portugal’s “big three” in the summer of 2004 when he was signed by Benfica on a five-year deal.

The transition was not as smooth as Quim would have wanted, as he had to share duties with 22-year old goalkeeper, Moreira, but he made 19 appearances in his initial season with the club to make a significant contribution to Benfica’s first championship triumph in over a decade.

The following season went from euphoria to misery. After a good start Quim suffered the most serious injury of his career, requiring surgery to recover from a hernia. The stopper eventually lost place in the line-up to newly acquired Moretto in controversial circumstances as the then coach, Ronald Koeman, appeared to lose faith in the Portuguese international.

Quim’s fortunes turned around at the beginning of the 2006/07 season as new coach Fernando Santos announced that the former Braga man would be his first-choice goalkeeper. The vote of confidence was all Quim needed and he has rarely put in a bad performance this season, leading the player to admit that he is enjoying the best moment of his career.

International career

Quim has never featured for Portugal as the main goalkeeper in any tournament, but has still managed to accumulate 24 caps. He was the first-choice deputy initially for Vitor Baia, and currently Ricardo.

He was on his way to becoming Portugal’s number one during the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign. After starting regularly and looking primed to take to the stage at the world’s largest football tournament, Quim was devastated after being found guilty of having used the banned substance nandrolone. The goalkeeper always maintained his innocence, but lost his appeal and was forced to serve out the ban.

Upon resuming his career Quim has had to play second fiddle to Sporting’s Ricardo in the national team, but has earned praise from Scolari for his hard-working attitude. As Portugal’s undisputed second-choice goalkeeper he was an important member of the squad that finished as runners-up at Euro 2004 and 4th in the 2006 World Cup.

by Marco Pereira (19/04/2007)