Hernâni Neves

Hernâni Madruga Neves (born 2 November 1963), known simply as Hernâni, is a retired Portuguese football and beach soccer player. In the former, he played as a defensive midfielder.

He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 84 games and two goals over the course of ten seasons, representing in the competition Vitória de Setúbal and Benfica.

Football career Hernâni was born in Mourão, Évora District, and began his professional career with Vitória de Setúbal. In a career greatly hampered by injuries he only played one solid season as a professional, 1987–88, appearing in 23 out of 38 matches to help the club finish in eighth position and attracting the attention of Primeira Liga and European Cup runner-up S.L. Benfica, which signed him in the subsequent off-season.

On 4 December 1988, Hernâni scored a rare goal, netting for Benfica in a 2–0 home win against former side Setúbal. A fortnight later, after a 2–0 home success against Lisbon neighbours Sporting Clube de Portugal, he tested positive for cocaine, and received a three-month ban. He was a first-team regular in the latter part of the 1989–90 campaign, and played the whole of the 1990 European Cup final, lost 1–0 to AC Milan; he remained with the club for a further four years, but made only six appearances combined.

After a return to Setúbal, where he played 14 games in two seasons, and a spell in the Segunda Liga with C.D. Beja where he reunited with former Vitória teammate Adelino Nunes, Hernâni retired from the game in June 1997 at age 33. He also earned two caps for Portugal, his debut coming on 5 December 1987 in a 0–3 defeat to Italy in the UEFA Euro 1988 qualifiers.

Beach soccer One year after retiring, Hernâni started appearing for the Portugal beach soccer team, being one of their leading figures for one full decade and winning a total of 14 titles, as well as many other top-three finishes.

From 2006 to 2009, he also played at club level, with Italian side Cavalieri del Mare di Viareggio.

Football statistics

Honours

Football Primeira Liga: 1988–89, 1990–91, 1993–94 Taça de Portugal: 1992–93; runner-up 1988–89 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira runner-up: 1993 European Cup runner-up: 1989–90

Beach soccer Italian Supercup: 2008

Portugal Mundialito: 2003, 2008; runner-up 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 FIFA World Cup: 2001; runner-up 1999, 2002, 2005; third place 2003, 2004, 2008 Euro League: 2002, 2007, 2008; runner-up 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006; third place 1999, 2003 Euro League Portuguese Event: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Euro League French Event: 2004, 2005 Euro League Spanish Event: 2005; runner-up 2006; third place 2007 Euro League Italian Event: runner-up 2005, 2007; third place 2006 Copa Latina: 2000; runner-up 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003; third place 2005 Pro Tour runner-up: 2001

Individual FIFA World Cup: MVP 2001 Mundialito: MVP 2004