Pauleta

Early years and Spain

Born in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island in the Azores, Pauleta started his career with local clubs in his native region, before turning professional in the lower leagues. He was part of FC Porto's youth team for a brief stint yet left soon due to homesickness, signing his first professional contract with CU Micaelense in 1994 and spending one year there. He then moved to second division's G.D. Estoril Praia in 1995, helping them to the 12th position in his first and only season. The goals continued to flow following a switch to Spanish second level side UD Salamanca in 1996, with Pauleta scoring 19 goals as it gained promotion to La Liga in the following year, adding a further 15 in his first season in the top flight. That rate earned him a move to Deportivo de La Coruña, in summer 1998. Pauleta scored his first goal in European competition in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, netting in a 3–1 home win against Montpellier HSC and repeating the feat in the second leg (2–0). On 22 November 1999 he netted a hat-trick for Depor in a home fixture against Sevilla FC, going on to enjoy a two-year spell with the Galicians which included 33 goals in 92 official matches, including eight from 12 starts as the club won its first league championship title in 2000.

Bordeaux

On 1 September 2000, after being tracked by the likes of Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Sunderland, Pauleta joined FC Girondins de Bordeaux in France, reportedly for financial and…

Pauleta was the first Portugal national team player to never have played in the Portuguese top level when he made his international debut against Armenia, in August 1997. He would have to wait 18 months for his first start, against the Netherlands. His first goals came a month later, when he scored two in a 7–0 rout of Azerbaijan in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifier on 26 March 1999. A substitute at the Euro 2000 tournament, Pauleta led the Portuguese attack at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring three times against Poland and ending with that tally in as many games, as the nation was ousted in the group stage. On 19 November 2003, he scored four goals in an 8–0 friendly win over Kuwait in Leiria. Although he played all but one game on the road to the final of Euro 2004, Pauleta did not score in that tournament finals. After the competition, with the international retirements of Fernando Couto, Luís Figo and Rui Costa, he was made captain, a role he held until Figo's return; however, he sporadically played as captain in the latter's absence, including a 2–0 win over Egypt at the Estádio de São Miguel in his hometown on 17 August 2005. On 12 October, against Latvia, he netted twice to become the national team's all-time goal scoring leader at the time, surpassing Eusébio's previous record of 41. During the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, Pauleta was the European zone's top scorer and, in a friendly match against Cape Verde in May 2006 preluding the final stages, he showed great…

A goalscorer in his prime, Pauleta usually operated as a lone striker or alongside another forward, and combined mobility, pace and athleticism with good technique, two-footedness and strength in the air.

Pauleta's nickname was passed down from generation to generation in the family of his father's maternal grandmother, while his goal celebration of spreading his arms like wings earned him the additional moniker The Eagle of the Azores. In November 2005, he signed to become a FIFA ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages, the first Portuguese to do so.