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Mozambique star Nelson Manuel has a unique story in the world of sports and in his country. He is one of those multifaceted actors on the football stage, player for the National Beach Soccer Team, and defender for Ferroviario de Maputo, a top club in the Mozambican Professional Football League.
In 2021, he was named top Beach Soccer player in Africa, after having helped Mozambique to win their first silver medal in their first participation in the AFCON, held in May in Senegal.
In the same event, Nelson Manuel also scored 10 goals to earn the title of top scorer.
Three months later, in August, the player was the second top scorer in the Mozambican national team in the FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, with four goals, three less than his teammate Figo.
To round off a golden year, in December 2021, he helped Mozambique win the COSAFA Tournament in Durban and this year, in the edition held in the same city, the player scored a remarkable 13 goals. In second place was Uganda’s Ambrose Kigozi, with nine goals, and third place went to Senegal’s Mamour Diagnedo, with eight goals.
Last January, his professional career took another turn when he joined for pre-season the first division football club in Mozambique, Ferroviário de Maputo, an eleven-a-side football.
The national beach soccer head coach, Abineiro Ussaca, described Nelson Manuel as an idol of the national sport, assuring that he is the beach soccer player in the country who is best prepared to play in any team in the world.
According to the coach, with the performances during the qualification process and the presence in the last AFCON and later in the FIFA World Cup and in the conquest of the COSAFA Tournament, Nelson Manuel has become a highly referenced athlete.
“He is one of the athletes that every coach would like to have in his squad. It is the reason that makes him unique in professional football. He is an idol for many. All over the world, when we arrive, people ask about Nelson. He is a star that the country needs. The new beach soccer players needed him to be a beacon of light. For the quality that he has, he can play in any team in the world – praised Abineiro Ussaca.
A fleeting spell at France’s Marseille
Last June, Nelson Manuel and the national beach soccer coach, Abineiro Ussaca, were respectively hired on a fixed term to play and train in the French side Marseille Beach Team, in the Euro Winners’ Cup, an event that gathered the best European beach soccer teams in Nazaré, Portugal. In the four games played, Nelson Manuel scored five goals. He didn’t score in the defeat against the Spanish Levante (6-4), on Sunday, 5th June. The next day, against Sotão, from Portugal, the Mozambican star scored a hat-trick, in Marseille’s victory, 4-3.
On the third matchday of the group stage, he scored twice in the thrashing of Belgium’s Vamos Manage.with Marseille qualified for the 16 round of finals, Nelson Manuel’s goal was not enough to avoid a 7-4 defeat against the also French side Grande Motte Pyramide BS.