Alemannia Aachen, FC Schalke 04, TuS Haltern, FC Porto

Not many players join TuS Haltern from FC Porto, but Sergio Pinto is one of them. When he came to Germany from Portugal with his parents at the age of twelve, he joined the small Club in Münsterland. “I didn’t want to travel 35 km everyday without knowing the language”, runs Pinto’s reasoning for not joining a club further away such as FC Schalke 04.

However he did end up moving there while he was still young and celebrated his Bundesliga debut at the Royal Blues in September 1999, coming on as a substitute in the 3-2 win at Leverkusen. This appearance was followed by a further 22 Bundesliga appearances and a number of games for the reserves, before Sergio Pinto joined the second league side Alemannia Aachen. In his time there he managed to pick up European experience. The Rheinlanders had qualified for the UEFA Cup in the previous season by reaching the Cup final. Pinto had the good fortune of playing against FC Sevilla amongst others.

With Aachen Pinto won promotion to the Bundesliga in 2006, only to be relegated again a year later. In Summer 2007 manager Dieter Hecking, who he’d already played under at Aachen, brought him to Hannover 96.

The Portuguese born player is very versatile. Sergio Pinto can play as a right-back as well as an attacking winger. His talents also mean he can do a job behind the strikers. This is certainly to his advantage and one reason why he makes so many appearances for 96.