Marco Caneira

A youth graduate at Sporting, he started his career at the club, also appearing briefly for Benfica in his country, and represented Valencia in La Liga for a couple of years before returning to Sporting. Over ten seasons, he amassed Primeira Liga totals of 126 matches and one goal; he retired in 2015, after a four-year stint with Videoton.

Caneira left the Sóstói Stadion at the end of the 2014–15 season, having contributed with only three appearances to the club's second Nemzeti Bajnokság I conquest. After one year out football, the 36-year-old came out of retirement and joined amateurs SRD Negrais in the Lisbon Football Association.

On the last day of the 2011 summer transfer window, the 32-year-old Caneira signed with Videoton FC in Hungary, sharing teams with three compatriots including former international teammate Paulo Sousa, who acted as the club's manager. On 25 October 2012 he scored only his fourth goal as a professional, netting from close range after a corner kick in an eventual 2–1 home win against FC Basel in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

In October 2009, while still an active player, Caneira ran for office in the Almargem do Bispo civil parish (in his native Sintra), losing the election by 32 votes.

After appearing rarely on the second Valencia stint, Caneira returned for a third one with Sporting, for €3.5 million, signing a four-year deal on 25 June 2008. He appeared in 32 official games in his first season (21 in the league, helping his team to the second place), but fell out of favour in the following years, inclusively not being given a jersey for the 2010–11 campaign, and he left the club in June 2011.

After one and a half seasons at Valencia, Caneira returned to Portugal and Sporting in January 2006, where he displayed consistent defensive performances, also scoring a rare goal against former owners Inter Milan in the following season's Champions League, in a 12 September home win (1–0). In August 2007, although he had reached an agreement for a further five-year loan with the Lions, he returned to the Quique Sánchez Flores-led team.

After his second season, Caneira was loaned out again, this time to Valencia CF which had faced Bordeaux twice in the 2003–04 edition of the UEFA Champions League. The move was made permanent on 13 June 2005.

On 16 January 2005, Caneira's 8-month daughter was victim of sudden death, shortly before Valencia's La Liga match against CA Osasuna. The two teams finally decided on playing the game, which ended 0–0.

Left out of the squad for UEFA Euro 2004, Caneira returned for the 2006 World Cup, playing in Portugal's last group stage match against Mexico (2–1 win).

A Portugal international since 2002, Caneira was selected for the squad that appeared in that year's FIFA World Cup, but did not play in the tournament held in Japan and South Korea. He made his debut on 27 March, in a 1–4 friendly loss to Finland in Porto.

Caneira left for another loan spell in summer 2001, this time with FC Girondins de Bordeaux. At the end of the campaign, the French signed him to a four-year contract.

Caneira, along with fellow Sporting players Paulo Costa and Vasco Faísca, was then involved in a somewhat complicated 2000 transfer between F.C. Alverca, who had gained 50% of their rights, and Inter Milan. He was immediately sent to Reggina Calcio, in a co-ownership bid. After a season he was bought back from Reggina and sent to S.L. Benfica, on a two-year-long loan.

Marco António Simões Caneira (born 9 February 1979) is a Portuguese footballer who plays for SRD Negrais preferably as a central defender but equally at ease on the right or the left flank.