Daniel da Cruz Carvalho

A talented attacking player whose career was cut short due to a poor work ethic, Dani was born in Lisbon and began his career with local club Sporting CP, making his first-team debut during 1994–95 aged just 17, in a team which also included Luís Figo, Ricardo Sá Pinto and Bulgarian Krassimir Balakov, and helped the side to that season's Taça de Portugal. In January 1996, Dani started a small loan in the Premier League with West Ham United, where he scored at Tottenham Hotspur and at home against Manchester City. Despite performing reasonably well during his tenure, his season ended when he was fired by manager Harry Redknapp when he missed training after being spotted in a nightclub. Subsequently, Dani represented Ajax, appearing regularly for the Amsterdam side but almost never as an undisputed starter. He did score an important goal in the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie against Atlético Madrid, in a 3–2 away win (4–3 aggregate). In December 2000, following a brief spell with Benfica, Dani signed for Atlético Madrid of the Spanish Segunda División on the recommendation of his compatriot Paulo Futre, the latter's director of football, teaming up with also-Portuguese Hugo Leal. After the Colchoneros returned to La Liga with him as an important unit, he was pretty much absent for the majority of the 2002–03 campaign and, having failed to find a new team, definitively retired from football in early 2004 at only 27.

Dani earned nine caps for Portugal, the first coming on 12 December 1995 in a 1–1 friendly with England, and the last on 29 March 2000 in a 2–1 victory over Denmark (also friendly). Previously, he appeared for the under-20 national team at the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship in Qatar, being awarded the second place in both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards, and also competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics where his country finished fourth.

Before and during his playing career, Dani worked regularly as a model. After retiring, he worked in television, including as a pundit for TVI 24. Dani married Patrícia Claro in 2009. The couple had two daughters, Maria Luísa (born 2011) and Benedita (2015). Redknapp, when he was manager at West Ham, once said about the player: "Dani is so good-looking I don't know whether to play him or fuck him".

Sporting CP

Taça de Portugal: 1994–95 Ajax

Eredivisie: 1997–98 KNVB Cup: 1997–98, 1998–99 Atlético Madrid

Segunda División: 2001–02 Portugal

UEFA European Under-18 Championship: 1994 FIFA U-20 World Cup third place: 1995 Individual

FIFA U-20 World Cup Silver Ball: 1995 FIFA U-20 World Cup Bronze Boot: 1995