Trained at Sporting, Paulo Sérgio discovered football in various latitudes. In a career spent between Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Brunei and Indonesia, he realized early on that not everything in football is a fairy tale: “After I left Sporting, I had salary arrears at almost every club”, he recalls. “In the past, there was no stability and clubs were allowed to do so. Thanks to the Players’ Union, I was always able to get paid, with the exception of my last spell at Olhanense.”
“In Indonesia I played for the police club, but we were always hampered by the referees. Nobody liked the police”
After a spell in Brunei, Paulo Sérgio went to Indonesia, where he defended Bhayangkara and won the national title, in a journey that he remembers with good memories, but also with difficulties on the field.
The former player reveals that the team faced particular obstacles, explaining that “the club had existed for three years and belonged to the police”, which, from his perspective, influenced the treatment in the game. “We were always harmed by the referees. Nobody liked the police”, he emphasizes.
His time in Indonesian football coincided with the arrival of big names in the championship, as a result of a rule that allowed the signing of players with experience in the main European leagues. Paulo Sérgio highlights the repercussion of these duels: “I played against Essien, who had played at Chelsea. He was huge.”
Far from being intimidated, he guarantees that he responded on the field. “I played against him, against Sissoko and Carlton Cole, and I blew them all up.”
“The coach that impacted me the most was Jorge Costa. He was a fantastic person”
Paulo Sérgio remembers with emotion his relationship with Jorge Costa, former international player and coach, who died at the age of 53, in August last year, when he was managing director at FC Porto. When it comes to remembering the different coaches he had throughout his career, Paulo Sérgio responds without hesitation: “He was the coach who impacted me the most.”
The connection between the two was built in two different moments, first at Académica and then at Olhanense, experiences that remain in memory due to the way the coach led the group. “I don’t say that because you are no longer with us”, underlines, reinforcing the admiration that already came from the times when Jorge Costa was a player.
Known for his intensity on the field, the former central defender contrasted off it. “It was that thing about race, about the ‘Bicho’ [alcunha de Jorge Costa]but as a coach he was the opposite of that. It was sweet”, remembers Paulo Sérgio, in a tone between nostalgia and fun. “”I told him that the referees did what they wanted from us and that, when he was a player, that didn’t happen.”
In the end, there is the memory of a leader who marked his proximity. “The way he brought the group together, the way he trained, was incredible. The ‘bastard’ was a gem of a person.”
