Francisco Vital

Born in Braga, Vital spent all of his early career in the second division, mainly with G.D. Riopele. In 1977 he signed with FC Porto, going on to be irregularly played by the Primeira Liga club during his two-and-a-half-season spell and winning two national championships, contributing with a career-best 21 games and five goals in the 1978–79 edition. In January 1980, Vital moved to La Liga with Real Betis – his only abroad experience – returning to his country in the summer to join S.L. Benfica, with whom he won another league as well as one Portuguese Cup and one domestic Supercup. After spending the 1981–82 campaign with Boavista F.C. he returned to the second level, where he remained until his retirement at the age of 33, mostly with F.C. Vizela. As a Porto player, Vital appeared once for Portugal, featuring 45 minutes in a 4–0 home win against Cyprus for the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and scoring the third.

Vital worked almost exclusively in the Portuguese lower leagues, his first stint being precisely with his last club Vizela. In 1997–98, his only season in the top tier, he was one of four managers for Sporting CP – having started as an assistant with the team – winning one match, drawing two and losing one as the Lions went on to finish in fourth position. In the second part of the 2000s, Vital coached mainly in Vietnam, helping Đồng Tâm Long An F.C. return to the V-League in 2012.