Jorge Alberto de Mendonça Paulino

Jorge Alberto de Mendonça Paulino (Luanda, Portuguese West Africa, Portugal, September 19, 1938) is a Portuguese former footballer born in present-day Angola when it was still under European rule, who would end up becoming nationalized as Spanish. He played the role of forward.

Sports career

Mendonça began playing football for Sporting de Luanda during his childhood. Years later, already settled in Portugal, he was part of the Sporting Lisbon youth team. He debuted in 1957 in the Portuguese First Division as a member of Braga. In July 1958 he joined Deportivo La Coruña with the mission of preventing the team from losing the category. His performance was essential for the Galicians to end up saving themselves from relegation, which is why, at the end of the season, Atlético de Madrid offered him a contract.

He made his debut in the First Division of the Spanish Football League on September 14, 1958 in Atlético's 2-0 victory over Oviedo, in which Mendoça scored his team's second goal.

In 1960 Atlético de Madrid won the Generalissimo Cup for the first time in history, but Mendoza could not play a game because he was a foreigner. Already nationalized, the following year, he participated in winning the second Generalissimo Cup by his club.

In the 1961-62 season they were proclaimed champion of the Cup Winners' Cup, the first European title in the history of the red and white team. In the final against Fiorentina, Mendonça scored a goal. With Atlético de Madrid he would later win another Generalissimo Cup and a League.

Mendonça remained at the red and white club for nine seasons, winning, in addition to four titles, three league runners-up and one European Cup Winners' Cup runner-up.

He will go down in the history of Atlético de Madrid for being the player who scored the goal that put an end to Real Madrid's best winning streak in their stadium. Real Madrid went without a league defeat for eight years and 18 days (2,940 days, 121 games), becoming the team that has gone the longest without losing at home in the history of the League. The streak ended when on March 7, 1965, Mendoça scored the goal (minute 74) that gave the red and white team the victory.

In 1967 he signed for FC Barcelona. In his first season he won the Generalissimo Cup and finished second in the league. He remains on the team for two seasons.

In 1969 he went to play for Mallorca. That season, after which the team would be relegated to the Second Division, he had almost no opportunities to play.

Mendoça played a total of 206 matches in the First Division, scoring 72 goals.

Clubs

Club	Country	Year
Braga	Portugal	1957 - 1958
Deportivo La Coruña	SpainSpain	1958
Atletico de Madrid	SpainSpain	1958 - 1967
FC Barcelona	SpainSpain	1967 - 1969
Mallorca	SpainSpain	1969 - 1970

Private life

Mendonça had two footballer brothers: Fernando Mendonça - who stood out in Portuguese football - and Manuel Mendonça - who played in Spain, France, Turkey and the United States.

He is a Jehovah's Witness, which brought him difficulties during his time at FC Barcelona and Mallorca, since in Spain at the time that religion was perceived as a heretical sect.

After retiring from football, he started a long legal dispute with the leaders of Mallorca due to non-payment of his salary. Finally, after eight years of battling, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, which also served to recategorize soccer players as employed workers from then on.

He lived in France where he studied medicine. There he became interested in 7-a-side football, conceiving it as a different discipline from association football, so he developed regulations for the sport and began to promote its practice - especially in children and adolescents.

Later, he returned to Spain and collaborated with the Angolan Embassy in Spain as a promoter of sports exchange. From that work, the idea of organizing the Immigration World Cup was born, an amateur soccer tournament that had several editions held in various parts. of Spanish geography and which brought together expatriates from different countries of the world who resided in Europe (the event was sponsored by Unicef).

Mendonça was founder and president of the Sports Group of African Former Football Players Association (AFPA).

Titles

National Championships

• 1 League (Atlético, season 65-66)
• 4 Cups of the Generalísimo (Three with the Atletic, 1960, 1961 and 1965; One with the FC Barcelona, 1968)

International Cups

• 1 Coup (Atlético, 1962)