Fernando Meira
Personal information
Full name	Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira
Date of birth	5 June 1978 (1978-06-05) (age 31) [1]
Place of birth	Guimarães, Portugal
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Central defender
Club information
Current club	Zenit Saint Petersburg
Number	3
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2002 2002–2008 2008–2009 2009–	Vitória Guimarães Felgueiras Vitória Guimarães Benfica Stuttgart Galatasaray Zenit Saint Petersburg	022 0(0) 033 0(0) 030 0(2) 046 0(2) 173 (11) 021 0(0) 022 0(1)
National team2
2000–	Portugal	054 0(2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:25, 26 September 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 9 February 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Meira in training with Stuttgart.

Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃du ˈmɐiɾɐ]; born 5 June 1978 in Guimarães) is a Portuguese footballer who currently plays for Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg and the Portuguese national team.

Fernando Meira began his senior career in 1995 with Vitória de Guimarães, playing only one game in that season. Later, in the 1998–99 season, he moved to Felgueiras, from the Liga de Honra, playing 33 league games. In the next season, Meira returned to Vitória Guimarães again, where he showed his skills, making a superb season, and deserving the interest from other big teams.

He has won numerous caps for the Portugal national football team, including the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2006 FIFA World Cup. After being left off the squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he earned a recall under new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, including a great performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, playing all of the Portugal's seven games in the tournament.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

He began his career with Vitória de Guimarães in 1995–96 and spent two further seasons there before moving down to the second division Felgueiras squad on loan. In 1998–99, Meira played 33 league games as Felgueiras narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing fifth, before returning to Vitória Guimarães for another fine season in which he scored his first goal in league football.^[2]

[edit] Stuttgart (2002–08)

Later, S.L. Benfica paid €4 million, plus a player, for him in the summer of 2000 and the defender did not disappoint, earning the club captaincy and bolstering his reputation to the point that VfB Stuttgart paid €7.5 million for his skills in January 2002.^[3] Stuttgart's general manager, Rolf Rüssmann, described the player as a "trophy" signing.^[4] Meira made his team debut on 16 January 2002 in the Bundesliga's 19th round win against Hamburger SV.^[5]

In 2002-03, Stuttgart coach Felix Magath fielded Fernando Meira in 31 Bundesliga matches, and only a suspension prevented him from featuring in all 34 as the club finished second (behind Bayern Munich) to clinch a place in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. He missed two UEFA Cup matches, including the home defeat by Celtic in the fourth round's first leg, and, he scored one goal in the second round's home leg victory over Ferencváros.^[6]

In the 2006-07 season, Meira was named Stuttgart's new captain by head coach Armin Veh,^[7] making him the first Portuguese captain ever in the Bundesliga. The team made a perfect season by winning the Bundesliga trophy^[8] and also by reaching DFB Pokal final. The Portuguese player led his team to the Bundesliga title for the first time in 15 years and this remains the only domestic title success Meira has enjoyed in his entire career.^[9] It was one of the highest moments in all Meira's career deserving a national team call-up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In that season, Meira played 24 games, including the DFB Pokal final, and scored three goals.

Fernando Meira made 173 league appearances and scored 11 goals in his entire VfB Stuttgart campaign as^[10] one of the best club defenders ever, leaving his mark in German football.

[edit] Galatasaray (2008–09)

On 20 July 2008, at the end of the 2007–08 season, Stuttgart removed Meira of the team captaincy and announced their intention to sell the player.^[11] Shortly afterwards, on 22 July 2008, Meira signed with Turkish club Galatasaray for €4.5 million euros in a four-year contract.^[12][13] He made his team debut in the 2008 Turkish Super Cup victory against Kayserispor.^[14] Later, the 2008 UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup winners, Zenit Saint Petersburg, have targeted Fernando Meira ahead of the new Russian domestic season,^[15] and the player says that he is happy to be the subject of interest from the club,^[16] leaving the Turkish club before the end of the season. Meira's time in Turkey was a bit disappointing due to numerous mistakes he made in the defense line and confusion with his ever-changing playing position. Meira made 38 appearances in all competitions, and he won the 2008 Turkish Super Cup.^[17]

[edit] Zenit St. Petersburg (2009–)

Zenit Saint Petersburg have found an agreement for Meira's transfer to the Russian club.^[18][19] The Portuguese player, previously tracked by Juventus and Liverpool^[20], will wear number 3, the shirt that previously belonged to Martin Škrtel.^[21] Meira made his league debut on 15 March in a 1-1 draw against Spartak Moscow, playing in initial line-up,^[22] and he scored his first goal for Zenit in a 3–0 win over Tom Tomsk on 5 April 2009.^[23]

[edit] International career

Meira made his international debut in 2000 but failed to secure a regular position until the 2006 FIFA World Cup.^[24] The defender played in all of Portugal's seven games in the tournament, finishing fourth overall.^[25] The player continued to be a regular fixture in the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament in Austria and Switzerland, appearing in all of Portugal's group stage games. However, he did not feature in their quarter final match against Germany. Portugal lost the game and Germany went on to the final of the tournament.^[26]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Club

[edit] International

[edit] Honours

[edit] Galatasaray

• Turkish Super Cup:
  • Winner: 2008

[edit] Stuttgart

• Bundesliga:
  • Winner: 2006-07
  • Runner-up: 2002-03
• DFB Pokal:
  • Runner-Up: 2006-07

[edit] Portugal

• FIFA World Cup:
  • 4th place: 2006

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fernando Meira

• Official Website
  • Meira's Official homepage (German) / (English) / (Portuguese)
• Official Team Profile
  • Profile at VfB.de (English)
  • Profile at galatasaray.org (English)
  • Profile at fc-zenit.ru (English)
• Other Profiles
  • Profile at the official Russian Premier League website (Russian)
  • PortuGOAL profile (English)
  • Profile at TFF.org (Turkish)
  • Profile at transfermarkt.de (English)
  • Profile at soccernet.espn.go.com (English)
  • Profile at national-football-teams.com (English)

Fernando Meira - Navigation boxes v • d • e Portugal squad – 2004 Summer Olympics 1 Moreira • 2 M. Sérgio • 3 R. Meireles • 4 Bruno Alves • 5 Costa • 6 Meira • 7 C. Ronaldo • 8 Viana • 9 H. Almeida • 10 C. Martins • 11 Ribeiro • 12 Frechaut • 13 Boa Morte • 14 Bosingwa • 15 Lourenço • 16 João Paulo • 17 Danny • 18 Bruno Vale • Coach: Romão v • d • e Portugal squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 Ricardo • 2 Ferreira • 3 Caneira • 4 Costa • 5 Meira • 6 Costinha • 7 Figo • 8 Petit • 9 Pauleta • 10 Viana • 11 Simão • 12 Quim • 13 Miguel • 14 Valente • 15 Boa Morte • 16 Carvalho • 17 C. Ronaldo • 18 Maniche • 19 Tiago • 20 Deco • 21 Nuno Gomes • 22 Santos • 23 H. Postiga • Coach: Scolari v • d • e Portugal squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Ricardo • 2 Ferreira • 3 Bruno Alves • 4 Bosingwa • 5 Meira • 6 R. Meireles • 7 Ronaldo • 8 Petit • 9 H. Almeida • 10 J. Moutinho • 11 Simão • 12 Nuno • 13 Miguel • 14 Ribeiro • 15 Pepe • 16 R. Carvalho • 17 Quaresma • 18 M. Veloso • 19 Nani • 20 Deco • 21 Nuno Gomes • 22 Patrício • 23 H. Postiga • Coach: Scolari