Francisco José Rodrigues da Costa, commonly known as simply Costinha, is a former professional midfielder. He was born on 1 December 1974 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Costinha spent the most fruitful seasons of his playing career with a French side AS Monaco and Portuguese team Porto. He made a great impact for Monaco helping them to win the French League in the 1999/2000 season. Costinha established himself as a vital player for Porto during his four-year spell since 2001 till 2005. During this period he collected eight trophies together with the club among which are two consecutive Portuguese Primeira Liga titles, the Portuguese Cup and two Supercups. He also produced a scintillating display in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League as his side won the competition. Apart from Porto and Monaco, the midfielder had spells at Nacional, Russian Dynamo Moscow, Spanish Atlético Madrid and Italian Atalanta. In between 1998 and 2006, Costinha was awarded 53 caps to the Portugal national team. He was part of the squad who finished as runners-up after Greece in the UEFA Euro 2004.
In 2013, Costinha embarked on his managerial career. He was appointed a Beira-Mar manager but did not succeed in keeping the club in the top flight. He was released soon afterwards. However, a couple of days later he was appointed a Paços Ferreira manager.
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