ALBERTO CABRAL
(Alberto Paulo dos Santos Cabral)

In August 2011, when Paulo Sérgio became manager of Hearts, he brought with him to Edinburgh, his long-term friend and trusted assistant, Alberto Cabral.

Born on 10 December 1968 in Porto, his expansive career started as a youth player with his local clubs, Boavista FC and FC Porto. Alberto quickly developed his reputation as a tenacious and quick-tackling defender, and in 1987, the sturdy ball-winner earned a full professional contract with the Campeonato Nacional 2 side, FC Famalicão.

Famalicão was relegated in 1987-88, but Alberto soon returned to the second level after he signed for Gil Vicente FC in 1989-90. His new club was then promoted to the Primeira Liga after winning the Campeonato Nacional 2 (Zona Norte) in his first season. Alberto helped Gil Vicente to remain in the top division, before moving to FC Tirsense in July 1991.

He subsequently played 119 league games over four seasons and Tirsense was promoted from the new Liga de Honra (Second Division) to the Primeira Liga in 1991-92. Although Tirsense was relegated the following season, Alberto became a key-man when the club was Champions of the Liga de Honra in 1993-94 and then finished eighth in the top league in 1994-95.

In July 1995, Alberto joined CS Marítimo of Funchal and over 90 League games, he helped the club to finish fifth in 1997-98 and secure a place in the UEFA Cup. Alberto was then with Sporting Clube de Braga from July 1998, but dropped down to the second level in July 2000, after signing for FC Maia.

Alberto retired in July 2002 and the following year, he started his coaching career, as the assistant to Mario Reis at Gil Vicente FC and then both the Liga de Honra clubs, FC Maia and CD Santa Clara. When Paulo Sérgio moved to the Azores in 2006-07 in order to manage Santa Clara, he established a sound working relationship with Alberto who has since become his right-hand man.

Alberto subsequently assisted Paulo Sérgio at SC Beira-Mar and then in the Primeira Liga, after the management pair joined FC Paços de Ferreira in 2008-09. His new club reached the Portuguese Cup Final in May 2009 and then in October that year, Alberto moved with Paulo Sérgio to Vitória SC de Guimarães.

In July 2010, the Vitória management team was recruited by the famous Sporting Clube de Portugal, but this ended in February 2011 when Paulo Sérgio left the club. As he possesses the appropriate UEFA licence, Alberto was temporarily in charge of Sporting, but he was more than delighted to be re-united with Paulo Sérgio after the latter's appointment as manager of Hearts.