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A defender associated with FC Porto and the Portuguese national team in the 1950s. He began playing with the local railway club before moving to Porto, and represented Portugal 39 times. Entroncamento honoured his sporting legacy by naming a street after him in 2015.
Life and work
Known as the Leão de Génova, Virgílio's reputation extended beyond his club career to the national team, for which he played 39 times. His FC Porto honours included two Portuguese championships and two Portuguese Cups. Reporting after his death in April 2009 recalled these achievements and the planned tribute before Porto's match against Vitória de Setúbal. The later naming of a street in Entroncamento connects that national sporting record with the railway town where he began playing.
Works and achievements
His major FC Porto honours span two different championship teams: the league titles of 1955/56 and 1958/59, alongside Portuguese Cups in 1955/56 and 1957/58. A federation dossier places him in Portugal’s line-ups against Northern Ireland in Lisbon on 16 January 1957 and Belfast on 1 May 1957. Those contemporary match dates anchor the national-team story more precisely than the general label of a 1950s international. The matches were qualifiers for the 1958 World Cup, not appearances at the finals.
Chronology
- 1955/1956
Wins the league and Portuguese Cup with FC Porto.
- 1957-01-16
Plays in Portugal’s 1–1 draw with Northern Ireland in Lisbon.
- 1957/1958
Wins another Portuguese Cup with FC Porto.
- 1958/1959
Wins his second league title with FC Porto.
- 2009-04-24
Dies; contemporary reports remember his club and national-team career.
- 2015
Entroncamento honours him with a street name.
Preserved research & downloads
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Research notes
This is a developing research record. Unverified life details and dates are omitted; the cited sources define its current coverage.
The birth year is disputed: the German football federation’s database gives 1926, while the independent FC Porto — Memória archive gives 1927. Both identify 17 November. No civil birth record has been examined, so the profile retains 1926/1927 rather than silently choosing one.