{{Short description|Portuguese footballer and manager (1943–2024)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} {{For|the player and manager born in 1955|Juca (footballer, born 1955)}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Rui Rodrigues | image = | full_name = Rui de Gouveia Pinto Rodrigues | birth_date = {{birth date|1943|5|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|2|23|1943|5|17|df=y}} | death_place = | position = Centre-back | years1 = 1962–1971 | clubs1 = Académica | caps1 = 210 | goals1 = 17 | years2 = 1971–1974 | clubs2 = Benfica | caps2 = 47 | goals2 = 1 | years3 = 1974–1976 | clubs3 = Vitória Guimarães | caps3 = 48 | goals3 = 2 | years4 = 1976–1979 | clubs4 = Académica | caps4 = 33 | goals4 = 1 | totalcaps= 338 | totalgoals= 21 | nationalyears1 = 1967–1976 | nationalteam1 = Portugal | nationalcaps1 = 12 | nationalgoals1 = 3 | manageryears1 = 1979–1980 | managerclubs1 = Leça | manageryears2 = 1980–1981 | managerclubs2 = Beira-Mar | manageryears3 = 1981–1982 | managerclubs3 = União Coimbra | manageryears4 = 1982 | managerclubs4 = Beira-Mar | manageryears5 = 1983 | managerclubs5 = Oliveira Bairro | manageryears6 = 1985 | managerclubs6 = 1º de Maio | manageryears7 = 1995–1997 | managerclubs7 = Benfica (youth) | manageryears8 = 2000 | managerclubs8 = Camacha }}
'''Rui de Gouveia Pinto Rodrigues''' (17 May 1943 – 23 February 2024) was a Portuguese football player and manager. He played as a centre-back.
Over the course of 17 seasons, Rodrigues amassed Portuguese top division totals of 338 games and 21 goals, representing Académica de Coimbra (two spells), S.L. Benfica and Vitória de Guimarães.
Rodrigues died on 23 February 2024, at the age of 80.<ref>[https://maisfutebol.iol.pt/luto/benfica/morreu-rui-rodrigues-antigo-jogador-do-benfica Morreu Rui Rodrigues, antigo jogador do Benfica] Maisfutebol (in Portuguese)</ref>
==Club career== Born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique, Rodrigues started at Grupo Desportivo 1º de Maio, after an unsuccessful try-out at Ferroviário de Lourenço Marques.<ref name=GP>{{cite web|author1=Alberto de Castro Abreu|title=Rui Rodrigues|url=https://gloriasdopassado.blogspot.pt/2009/02/rui-rodrigues.html|website=Glórias do Passado|access-date=9 October 2015|language=Portuguese|date=3 February 2009}}</ref> In 1962, he travelled to Portugal for a training session with the under-18 national team. Only a few months later, at the start of 1962–63 season, he joined Académica de Coimbra.<ref name=GP /> First with José Maria Pedroto and then with Mário Wilson, Rodrigues spent nine seasons in Coimbra, helping them reach a fourth place in 1964–65 and a club record second place in 1964–67, plus reaching two Portuguese Cup finals, in 1967 and 1969.<ref name=GP />
In 1971, after years of refusing offers from larger clubs, he accepted a move to Benfica.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Arsenal: Campeão de Inglaterra, teste benfiquista para a campanha internacional|journal=Diário de Lisboa|date=18 July 1971|issue=17447|page=27|url=http://casacomum.org/cc/visualizador?pasta=06811.161.25647#!27|access-date=27 April 2017|trans-title=Champions Arsenal to test Benfica for international campaign|language=Portuguese}}</ref><ref name=memorial>{{cite book|last1=Malheiro|first1=João|title=Memorial Benfica 100 Glórias|trans-title=Benfica Memorial, 100 glories|date=July 2006|publisher=QuidNovi|isbn=978-972-8998-26-4|edition=Third|page=126|language=Portuguese}}</ref> He made his debut on 12 September 1971, in a home win to Porto and played a total of 25 matches throughout the season, winning a league and cup double, and reached the semi-final of the European Cup.{{sfn|Tovar|2012|p=371}} During his spell at Benfica, he suffered minor injuries that hindered his progress in the team and with competition from Messias and others, the 31-year old chose to leave Benfica in 1974.{{sfn|Tovar|2012|p=377}}{{sfn|Tovar|2012|p=383}}<ref name=rui>{{cite journal|title=Guimarães|journal=Diário de Lisboa|date=29 July 1974|issue=18523|page=24|url=http://casacomum.org/cc/visualizador?pasta=06819.169.26810#!24|access-date=17 April 2017|language=Portuguese}}</ref>
Rodrigues then joined Vitória de Guimarães for two seasons, playing all of the league games in 1974–75 and receiving the captain armband in the following year, which ended with another Portuguese Cup final lost.<ref name=GP /> Rodrigues returned to Académica in 1976, playing only 33 league appearances over three years, five of those in 1978–79 and with the team suffering relegation, the 36-year-old retired from football.<ref name=GP /> In the following four years, he managed several teams, notably Leça and Beira-Mar (twice), returning to Benfica in 1995 on invitation of Artur Jorge to coach the under-12, winning the Campeonato Nacional de Infantis.<ref name=memorial />
==International career== Rodrigues gained 12 caps for Portugal, nine as an Académica player. He made his debut on 26 November 1967 against Bulgaria, in a 1–0 loss in Sofia for the UEFA Euro 1968 qualifiers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rui Rodrigues|url=https://eu-football.info/_player.php?id=17915|website=eu-football.info|access-date=9 October 2015}}</ref>
Rodrigues' last appearance was on 16 October 1976 against Poland, in a 2–0 home defeat for the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.
==Career statistics== :''Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rodrigues goal.''
{{International goals header|ref=no|above=List of international goals scored by Rui Rodrigues}} {{Ig match | n= 1 | d= 12 May 1971 | st=Estádio das Antas| ci=Porto| co=Portugal | o=Denmark | sc=1–0 | fr=5–0 | comp=Euro 1972 qualifying}} {{Ig match | n= 2 | d= 13 October 1971 | st=Hampden Park| ci=Glasgow| co=Scotland | o=Scotland | sc=1–1 | fr=1–2 | comp=Euro 1972 qualifying}} {{Ig match | n= 3 | d= 19 November 1975 | st=Estádio José Alvalade (1956)| ci=Lisbon| co=Portugal | o=England | sc=1–0 | fr=1–1 | comp=Euro 1976 qualifying}} |}
==Honours== '''Académica'''<ref name=GP /> *Taça de Portugal runner-up: 1966–67, 1968–69
'''Benfica'''<ref name=memorial /> *Primeira Liga: 1971–72, 1972–73 *Taça de Portugal: 1971–72
'''Vitória de Guimarães'''<ref name=GP /> *Taça de Portugal runner-up: 1975–76
==References== '''General''' * {{cite book | last=Tovar |first=Rui Miguel | title=Almanaque do Benfica| publisher=Lua de Papel |location=Portugal| year=2012| isbn=978-989-23-2087-8 }}
'''Specific''' {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{ForaDeJogo}} *{{ForaDeJogo manager}}
{{S.C. Beira-Mar managers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodrigues, Rui}} Category:1943 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Footballers from Maputo Category:Portuguese men's footballers Category:Men's association football defenders Category:Primeira Liga players Category:Académica de Coimbra (football) players Category:S.L. Benfica footballers Category:Vitória S.C. players Category:Portugal men's international footballers Category:Portuguese football managers Category:S.C. Beira-Mar managers Category:20th-century Portuguese sportsmen