José Emilio Furtado

Born in Praia, Cape Verde, Furtado started his football career in Portugal with lowly Casa Pia A.C. in the Lisbon area, where he also made his senior debuts. He moved to FC Porto in 2003, playing one full season with its reserves then moving on loan to another modest club, G.D. Tourizense. In June 2005, Furtado, still on loan from Porto, signed with Bulgarian team FC Vihren Sandanski, where he scored regularly in the First Professional Football League. In the following January transfer window, he was sold to fellow league side PFC CSKA Sofia for €300.000. Furtado's spell with the "armymen" also started in a scoring fashion, but eventually ended on a sour note: he fell out with manager Stoycho Mladenov due to disciplinary breaches (being temporarily removed from the squad), and was also involved in a physical confrontation with captain Valentin Iliev, which ultimately led to his return to Portugal. In the summer of 2007, Furtado moved to the Portuguese Primeira Liga as he signed with F.C. Paços de Ferreira. On 18 August he made his debut in the competition by playing the second half of a 1–3 away loss against C.S. Marítimo, and was relatively used during the campaign in a second-to-last finish with the subsequent relegation – later reinstatement due to Boavista FC's irregularities. Furtado split 2008–09 with Paços and U.D. Leiria, then moved abroad again, signing for Ionikos F.C. in the Greek second level. In his first year, he finished third in the competition's top scorers…