Eliseu

Club

International

Belenenses

Eliseu moved to Portugal's mainland in 2002, moving from Sport Clube Marítimo de Angra do Heroísmo to C.F. Os Belenenses. He gradually broke into the Lisbon-based club's first team, appearing in 24 Primeira Liga games in his second season and scoring in a 4–0 home win against C.F. Estrela da Amadora on 7 September 2003; his first had come in his only appearance of 2002–03, to close the 1–1 draw with Vitória de Setúbal after just one minute on the pitch. After a loan with Varzim S.C. in the Segunda Liga, where he was banned for eight months after a positive doping test, Eliseu continued to be a relatively important attacking player for Belenenses, but was used mainly as a substitute.

Málaga

For 2007–08, Eliseu and his compatriots Hélder Rosário and Paulo Jorge moved to Málaga CF, helping the Andalusians to return to La Liga after a two-year absence, with the trio combining for 108 matches and six goals (three from Eliseu). The following campaign, he continued to be first-choice, scoring his first Spanish top flight goal(s) in a 4–0 away victory over neighbours Recreativo de Huelva on 5 October 2008. He also found the net the following month, but in a 4–3 loss at Real Madrid. On 25 June 2009, Eliseu joined S.S. Lazio in Italy for exactly €1 million. However, after receiving few opportunities, he moved to Real Zaragoza on 7 January of the following year, on loan until the end of the season. He scored in only his second match for the Aragonese, who…

Courtesy of his Málaga performances, Eliseu was first called to the Portugal national team for an exhibition game with Finland on 11 February 2009, but did not leave the bench. He finally made his debut on 10 June, in a 0–0 friendly against Estonia. Although not part of the provisional 24-player list for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Eliseu was named in a backup list of six players. He scored his first international goal on 7 October 2011, in a 5–3 home win over Iceland for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers where he featured as a left-back and also made two assists. Eliseu did not make any appearances for his country in 2012 and 2013. He was selected by manager Fernando Santos for his Euro 2016 squad, featuring against Hungary in the group stage (3–3) and Poland in the quarter-finals (1–1, win on penalties) as the tournament ended in victory.

Eliseu was born in Angra do Heroísmo, Azores to a Cape Verdean mother, Inês Furtado (a restaurant owner), and a Portuguese father, José (an ambulance driver). The couple divorced when he was a teenager.