António Folha

Folha was born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto District. In his career, he played mostly for Porto, with loan stints in Portugal, Belgium^[3] and Greece;^[4] at AEK Athens, to where he arrived on 3 January 2002,^[5] he won the Greek Football Cup.^[6]

Folha was often used as a substitute by his main club, where he won a total of 18 major titles (including seven Primeira Liga trophies and five Taça de Portugal). He had his best years with the team from 1994 to 1996, contributing ten goals in 58 games as they won back-to-back national championships.^[7]

At the end of the 2002–03 season, aged 32, Folha was finally released by Porto^[8] and joined Penafiel of the Segunda Liga, helping to a return to the top flight in his first year. He retired from football in 2005, and joined his last team's coaching staff immediately afterwards, also serving a two-season stint as assistant manager, one in each of the major levels.^[9]

Folha earned 26 caps for Portugal over a three-year period,^[10] and was selected for the UEFA Euro 1996 tournament,^[11] appearing in three matches in an eventual quarter-final exit and assisting Ricardo Sá Pinto in the 1–1 group stage draw against Denmark.^[12]

Previously, he helped the under-20 team to win the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia.^[13]

Folha returned to Porto once again in 2008, being named assistant with the junior side and remaining in the position for several seasons.^[14] Later, he coached the reserves.^[15]

In June 2018, Folha replaced the departed Vítor Oliveira at the helm of top-division team Portimonense.^[16] He finished 12th in his first season on the Algarve, and resigned on 18 January 2020 when second from bottom having lost to last-placed Aves.^[17]

Folha returned to Porto B on 2 February 2021, taking over from Rui Barros – who had succeeded him – at the last-placed side in the second tier.^[18] He secured their survival in the last matchday.^[19]

On 9 June 2026, Folha was appointed at CFR Cluj on a one-year contract;^[20] he was brought in by his compatriot Cadú, the Romanian club's director of football.^[21] On 7 August, however, following a 0–5 home loss to Tromsø in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League, he was dismissed.^[22]

Folha's son, Bernardo, is also a footballer. A midfielder, he was also developed at Porto, being coached at the reserve team by his father.^[23][24]

Club

More information Club, Season ...

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[25][2]

Club	Season	League			National Cup[a]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Gil Vicente (loan)	1989–90	Segunda Divisão	35	3	4	0	—		—		39	3
	1990–91	Primeira Divisão	37	4	2	0	—		—		39	4
	Total		72	7	6	0	—		—		78	7
Porto	1991–92	Primeira Divisão	9	0	0	0	2[b]	0	1[c]	0	12	0
	1993–94		20	2	2	0	6[d]	0	2[c]	0	30	2
	1994–95		27	6	3	0	5[e]	0	2[c]	0	37	6
	1995–96		31	4	7	1	6[d]	0	3[c]	0	47	5
	1996–97		15	3	2	0	3[d]	0	0	0	20	3
	1997–98		14	0	3	1	3[d]	0	2[c]	0	22	1
	1998–99		1	0	—		—		1[c]	0	2	0
	1999–00	Primeira Liga	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	5	1
	2000–01		14	1	5	0	0	0	1[c]	0	20	1
	2001–02		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2002–03		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		135	16	23	3	25	0	12	0	195	19
Braga (loan)	1992–93	Primeira Divisão	31	1	3	1	—		—		34	2
Standard Liège (loan)	1998–99	Belgian First Division	25	3	6	3	—		0	0	31	6
Standard Liège (loan)	2000–01	Belgian First Division	15	2	2	0	2[f]	0	—		19	2
AEK Athens (loan)	2001–02	Alpha Ethniki	9	0	5	1	1[g]	0	—		15	1
Penafiel	2003–04	Segunda Liga	26	6	2	0	—		—		28	6
	2004–05	Primeira Liga	24	1	2	2	—		—		26	3
	Total		50	7	4	2	—		—		54	9
Career total			337	36	49	10	28	0	12	0	426	46

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1. [a]

   Includes Taça de Portugal, Belgian Cup, Greek Football Cup
2. [b]

   Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup
3. [c]

   Appearances in Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
4. [d]

   Appearances in UEFA Champions League
5. [e]

   Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
6. [f]

   Appearances in UEFA Intertoto Cup
7. [g]

   Appearances in UEFA Cup

International

More information National team, Year ...

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[26]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Portugal	1993	2	1
	1994	3	1
	1995	10	1
	1996	11	2
	1997	0	0
Total		26	5

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Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Folha goal.^[26]

More information No., Date ...

List of international goals scored by António Folha

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	5 September 1993	Kadrioru staadion, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	2–0	2–0	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	18 December 1994	Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal	Liechtenstein	6–0	8–0	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying
3	26 January 1995	SkyDome, Toronto, Canada	Canada	1–0	1–1	Friendly
4	21 February 1996	Estádio das Antas, Porto, Portugal	Germany	1–1	1–2	Friendly
5	29 May 1996	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Republic of Ireland	Republic of Ireland	1–0	1–0	Friendly

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As of 6 August 2026^[27][28]

Player

• Primeira Divisão: 1991–92, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99^[7]
• Taça de Portugal: 1993–94, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2000–01^[7]
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998^[7]

AEK Athens

• Greek Cup: 2001–02^[29]

Portugal U20

• FIFA World Youth Championship: 1989^[13]