Calita Explained

Calita
Fullname:Carlos Alberto Souto Maior Silva Batista
Birth Date:20 December 1972
Birth Place:Lisbon, Portugal[1]
Height:1.750NaN0
Position:Midfielder
Youthyears1:1984–1990
Years1:1990–1994
Years2:1994–1995
Years3:1995–1996
Years4:1996
Years5:1997
Years6:1997–1998
Years7:1998–2000
Years8:2000
Years9:2000–2001
Years10:2001–2002
Years11:2003
Years12:2004–2006
Years13:2006–2008
Years14:2008–2009
Years15:2009–2011
Years16:2011–2012
Years17:2013–2014
Years18:2015–2016
Years19:2016–2017
Clubs4:Boavista (loan)
Clubs7:Louletano
Clubs8:Lusitano
Clubs9:Quarteirense
Clubs10:Messinense
Clubs11:Lusitano
Clubs12:Serrano
Clubs13:São Marcos
Clubs14:Imortal
Clubs15:Serrano
Clubs16:São Marcos
Clubs17:Guia
Clubs18:Guia
Clubs19:Santaclarense
Caps2:7
Caps3:0
Caps4:4
Caps5:9
Caps6:26
Caps7:44
Caps11:17
Goals2:1
Goals3:0
Goals4:0
Goals5:1
Goals6:4
Goals7:4
Goals11:1
Club-Update:18 May 2003

Carlos Alberto Souto Maior Silva Batista (born 20 December 1972), commonly known as Calita, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a midfielder.

Football career

Calita started his career with Imortal DC. He had only played in seven Primeira Liga games for S.C. Farense when he was purchased by Coventry City on 5 July 1995, after failing a trial at Blackburn Rovers, for a fee reported as ranging from £125,000–350,000.[2] He never broke into the first team with the Premier League club and finished 1995–96 back in his country with Boavista, also in the top division.[3]

During his short spell in England, he was known as Carlita.[4] He was the first Portuguese footballer to be signed by an English Premier League club.[5] But he later revealed that he joined Coventry City after having been made false salary promises, and he left the club because his actual income was barely enough to live on.[6]

From 1997 until his retirement two decades later, Calita never played higher than the third level of Portuguese football and predominantly competed in the second regional division, with most of the teams hailing from the Algarve region.

Notes and References

  1. Per ForaDeJogo. Certain other sources 1, 2 suggest he was born in Angola.
  2. News: Coventry City. Football Squads. 27 June 2010.
  3. News: Boavista. Football Squads. 27 June 2010.
  4. News: Brown . Jim . Jim Brown: Big Ron's impulse buy didn't stay at Coventry City long . 15 January 2019 . . 12 October 2013.
  5. News: Nascimento . Hélio . Calita, o pioneiro português que nunca chegou a jogar na Premier League . 15 January 2019 . . 13 August 2017 . Portuguese.
  6. News: Antiga promessa do futebol já não lamenta o passado . 15 January 2019 . . 25 March 2012 . Portuguese.