Club Career
Born in Porto, Costa made his professional debuts with F.C. Penafiel, on loan from hometown's F.C. Porto. The following season, he was also loaned, to fellow top flight outfit C.S. Marítimo, playing 31 games, including a controversial one in the Estádio das Antas where he scored an own goal. Despite being clearly unintentional, the accusations of "scoring for his team" continued, forcing Porto's president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa to forbid further loaned players to play against Porto, a decision that still stands.
In 1992–93, Costa finally joined FC Porto, slowly making his way. Six seasons later, he switched to jersey #2, previously worn by right defender João Domingos Pinto, also being named team captain, as Pinto retired. His career three only met four black spots: two serious knee injuries (during the 1995–96 season, which ruled him out of UEFA Euro 1996 and during 1997's pre-season in Sweden) and a feud with coach Octávio Machado early in 2001–02, which forced him into "exile" at Charlton Athletic. However, the image of Costa as the captain went untouched, and Porto fans turned against Machado with massive criticism of his team management and coaching, eventually forcing him outside the club.
Additionally, in 1996–97's UEFA Champions League, Costa was involved in an incident with A.C. Milan's George Weah on 20 November 1996, with the Liberian striker breaking his nose, alleging that he had been racially abused. Costa strenuously denied the accusations of racism and was not charged by UEFA as no witnesses could verify Weah's allegations, not even his Milan teammates. Weah, on the other hand, was suspended for six matches, and later attempted to apologise to Costa but this was rebuffed by the Portuguese, who considered the charges of racist insults levelled against him to be defamatory and took the Liberian to court; the incident resulted in Costa being sidelined for three weeks, also having to undergo facial surgery.
With José Mourinho in charge, Costa returned to Porto next season, and was unanimously chosen as captain of a side that went on to win a championship-cup-UEFA Cup treble, making him the third Porto captain in a row to lift cups at international level (following Pinto and Fernando Gomes). The winning streak for Costa continued as the next season he lifted the Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup.
In January 2006, after having been deemed surplus to requirements by new club coach Co Adriaanse, Costa signed for Standard Liège from Belgium, reuniting with former Porto teammate Sérgio Conceição, and helped his new side to a runner-up finish in the league. He decided to retire from the game (claiming "personal reasons") in June, despite having a running contract until 2007.
Read more about this topic: Jorge Costa
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