Nuno Assis

Nuno Assis

Assis playing for Omonia in 2014
Personal information
Full name Nuno Assis Lopes de Almeida
Date of birth (1977-11-25) 25 November 1977
Place of birth Lousã, Portugal
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1992–1996 Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2001 Sporting CP 0 (0)
1996–1999 → Lourinhanense (loan) 59 (23)
1999–2000 → Alverca (loan) 19 (0)
2000–2001 → Gil Vicente (loan) 26 (2)
2001–2004 Vitória Guimarães 107 (11)
2005–2008 Benfica 56 (4)
2008–2010 Vitória Guimarães 49 (12)
2010–2011 Ittihad 25 (3)
2011–2012 Vitória Guimarães 25 (4)
2012–2016 Omonia 110 (21)
Total 476 (80)
National team
1999 Portugal U21 1 (0)
2002–2009 Portugal 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Nuno Assis Lopes de Almeida (born 25 November 1977), known as Assis, is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

He amassed Primeira Liga totals of 282 games and 33 goals over the course of 12 seasons, representing in the competition Alverca, Gil Vicente, Vitória de Guimarães (two spells) and Benfica. He also spent four years in the Cypriot First Division with Omonia.

Club career

Born in Lousã, Coimbra District, Assis started playing football in his hometown, before being spotted by Sporting Clube de Portugal. He then moved to the Lisbon club's youth system, and later was loaned to its feeder club Sporting Clube Lourinhanense. He made his debuts in the top division in 1999–2000, playing 19 matches for F.C. Alverca while still on loan from Sporting, and was subsequently loaned a final time the following season to Gil Vicente FC, for whom he scored his first-ever top flight goals.

In the 2001 summer, Assis was released by the Lions, signing with Vitória de Guimarães. In his second year he scored three goals in 33 matches, netting four in 31 in the following campaign. He started off 2004–05 with the Minho side, but moved to S.L. Benfica in the following winter transfer window to replace fading Zlatko Zahovič;[1] he scored on his debut, in a 2–1 away success against Moreirense FC.

Prior to 2008–09 kick-off, after being used relatively in three 1/2 seasons, Assis was released by Benfica alongside Luís Filipe, re-joining Vitória Guimarães. On 30 January 2009 he netted his first career hat-trick, in a 4–2 win at Vitória de Setúbal.[2]

In the 2009–10 season Assis continued to feature prominently for Vitória, scoring five goals in 26 matches as the team finished sixth. In mid-June 2010, the 32-year-old signed with Saudi Arabian team Ittihad FC, for his first abroad experience; in his first match, on 14 August, he helped to a 2–1 win against Al-Ettifaq.

In late August 2011, Assis re-joined Vitória Guimarães. In the following summer he moved clubs and countries again, after agreeing to a deal with Omonia Nicosia.[3] He netted twice from 28 Cypriot First Division appearances in his debut campaign, but had the intention to leave after his contract expired due to financial differences, eventually changing his mind and also becoming captain.[4][5]

Doping case

After a domestic league match between Benfica and C.S. Marítimo on 3 December 2005, Assis allegedly tested positive for a banned substance. In February of the following year, UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body suspended the player from all official UEFA matches, after the test results were declared –[6] Benfica won 1–0 and the result was not contested. On 7 May Benfica's president, Luís Filipe Vieira, came out contesting the alleged positive result, as proper procedure was not followed for the tests (the 72-hour delay between collection of the sample and the test for anomalous quantities of different substances might have led to sample degradation and false positives).

On 14 July 2006, the Justice Council of the Portuguese Football Federation threw out the sentence on technicalities, specifically the disregard for the defence of Assis,[7] and removed the six-month suspension to the player after he was initially suspended for five months. Benfica threatened to press charges to try and identify who was responsible for the false charges and for the whole procedure, and asked for the destitution of the laboratory director and the technicians involved in this case; on the 19th, Portuguese sports newspapers O Jogo and A Bola quoted the president of the laboratory that handled the sample and made the analysis (LAD, Anti-Doping Lab) claiming that the player had been tested positive for 19-norandrosterona, a steroid – according to the president statement, sample A contained 4.5 nanograms per milliliter (n/ml) and the counter-sample 4.0 n/ml. The legal limit for such substance is 2.0 n/ml and a normal person usually has between 0.1 and 0.2 with a maximum of 0.6 n/ml.

The following day Vieira replied, accusing Luís Horta (president of LAD) and Luís Sardinha (president of the National Anti-Doping Council, CNAD) of fabricating data and lying to protect themselves – he brought to light that the meeting of CNAD that decided to prosecute the athlete did so disregarding the technical analysis that proposed that charges should be dropped, according to the meeting's agenda.[8] One of his charges stated that CNAD punished the athlete knowing he was innocent only to hide the mess made by LAD collecting and analysing the sample. The original Justice Council of the Portuguese Football Federation sentencing included an indication that, in order to claim doping, it had to be proved that an athlete had the illegal substance in his body and that he had intentionally done it; at this point the World Anti-doping agency stepped in because the burden of proof of consumption intent in doping cases would undermine any doping situation. This appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport agreed with the agency and found that foul-play was with the player and the original six-month sentence was increased to one year.[9][10] At no point during the appeal were the LAD or CNAD procedures contested.

International career

Assis' first game for the Portuguese national team was under coach Agostinho Oliveira in November 2002, in a friendly match. He came in as a substitute in the 2–0 victory over Scotland.[11]

After more than six years of absence Assis returned to the national team, taking the pitch during the second half of the decisive 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Malta (4–0, in Guimarães); he was not picked, however, for the final stages in South Africa.

Club statistics

As of 16 June 2015[12][13]
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Lourinhanense 1997–98 Segunda Divisão B 2812 —2812
1998–99 Segunda Divisão B 3111 —3111
Total 5923 —5323
Alverca 1999–2000 Primeira Liga 19000—190
Total 19000—190
Gil Vicente 2000–01 Primeira Liga 26211—273
Total 26211—273
Vitória Guimarães 2001–02 Primeira Liga 31220—332
2002–03 Primeira Liga 32330—353
2003–04 Primeira Liga 31420—334
2004–05 Primeira Liga 13222—154
Total 1071192—11613
Benfica 2004–05 Primeira Liga 152212[lower-alpha 1]0193
2005–06 Primeira Liga 100002[lower-alpha 2]0120
2006–07 Primeira Liga 141007[lower-alpha 2]0211
2007–08 Primeira Liga 171615[lower-alpha 2]0282
Total 56482160806
Vitória Guimarães 2008–09 Primeira Liga 23760—297
2009–10 Primeira Liga 26571—336
Total 4912131—6213
Ittihad 2010–11 Pro League 253207[lower-alpha 3]3346
Total 2532073346
Vitória Guimarães 2011–12 Primeira Liga 25420—274
Total 25420—274
Omonia 2012–13 First Division 282612[lower-alpha 4]0363
2013–14 First Division 283302[lower-alpha 4]0333
2014–15 First Division 266305[lower-alpha 4]1346
Total 707919110312
Career total 4366643732452180
  1. ↑ Appearances in UEFA Cup
  2. 1 2 3 Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  3. ↑ Appearances in AFC Champions League
  4. 1 2 3 Appearances in UEFA Europa League

Honours

Club

[14]

Benfica
Omonia

Individual

See also

References

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