Luís Boa Morte

Sporting CP

Born in Lisbon to parents from São Tomé and Príncipe, Boa Morte started his professional career with Sporting CP.

Arsenal

Boa Morte made his debut in English football for Arsenal when he became one of Arsène Wenger's first signings for the club, joining for a fee of £1.75 million. He made his debut on 23 August 1997 as a substitute against Southampton. During Arsenal's double winning 1997–98 season, he made 15 league appearances, mostly as substitute and four in the FA Cup, although he did not appear in the final itself. He scored two goals this season, with both coming in a League Cup tie against Birmingham City. The following season, he was a fairly regular squad member, usually as substitute in the early part of the season, with a few European Cup appearances, including against Panathinaikos on 9 December 1998, when he scored Arsenal's third goal. His fourth and final Arsenal goal came against Preston North End in the FA Cup. He came on as a substitute as Arsenal won the 1999 FA Charity Shield. His final appearance for Arsenal was as a second-half substitute away to Sunderland on 14 August 1999.

Southampton

In his season at The Dell, he made a total of 17 appearances, mostly as substitute, with one goal – a thundering left foot drive at Watford in a 2–3 defeat on 28 December 1999.

Fulham

In his first season at Fulham, he helped Jean Tigana's side win the 2000–01 Division 1 title, making 39 league appearances and scoring…

Boa Morte made his debut for the Portugal national football team on 25 April 2001 in a friendly 4–0 defeat away to World and European champions France, as an 87th-minute substitute for Rui Jorge. His only goal came in a 5–1 home win against Angola on 14 November that year, a game which had to be abandoned when the African team were reduced to six players on the pitch. Boa Morte was not selected by manager Luiz Felipe Scolari for UEFA Euro 2004. His former Fulham teammate Louis Saha publicly called the omission "revolting and scandalous", and advised Boa Morte never to play for Portugal again. Later that year, he was included in the under-23 team for the Olympic tournament in Greece in which they came bottom of their group. He was sent off early in the second half of a 4–2 loss to Iraq for a kick at Bassim Abbas, in a match that received widespread media coverage due to the ongoing war in the opponents' nation. Boa Morte was part of Scolari's team that came fourth at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, playing ten minutes in place of captain Luís Figo at the end of a 2–1 win over Mexico in the final group game. After an absence of three years, he was recalled by Carlos Queiroz on 29 May 2009. He earned his first cap since 2006 on 6 June in a 2–1 win in Tirana against Albania in a 2010 World Cup qualifier. He made 27 appearances, scoring once, for Portugal from 2001 to 2009.

After retiring, Boa Morte immediately spent time assisting the coaches at the Fulham academy. In the summer 2014, Boa Morte was appointed assistant manager of Sporting CP B, the reserve team of Sporting CP. After three months, he was appointed manager of the club's U19s. He was in charge until the end of the season, where he moved to Arsenal and worked as a scout. He left Arsenal in February 2017, to become manager of Sintrense. In June 2018, he was appointed manager of Portimonense's U23 squad. He left the position to become assistant manager of Maccabi Haifa on 15 January 2019. In June 2019, Boa Morte was appointed as assistant manager to compatriot Marco Silva at Everton. He was sacked, along with Silva, in December. Following Silva's appointment as manager at Fulham in July 2021, Boa Morte joined him as first team coach. On 19 March 2024, it was announced that Boa Morte would be leaving Fulham at the end of the season to take up the role as manager of Guinea-Bissau. His first game in charge, on 6 June 2024 resulted in a goalless draw against Ethiopia.

Boa Morte made a guest appearance as himself in a February 1999 episode of the BBC children's drama series Grange Hill, giving out prizes at a school sports day. He appeared on the MTV reality series Cribs, showing viewers a relatively modest detached house in Surrey and his Vauxhall Corsa; he said that he had never been in his own garden. Boa Morte's nephew Aylton (born 1993) is also a professional footballer, playing as a winger.