António Leonel Vilar Nogueira Sousa, known as Tonel, is a retired Portuguese professional footballer who played as a central defender, and a manager. Over ten seasons, he amassed Primeira Liga totals of 224 games and 15 goals, mainly representing Sporting with which he won four major titles. He also played three years in Croatia, with Dinamo Zagreb.
Club career
Porto / Marítimo
Coming through the youth teams of FC Porto, Tonel was born in Lourosa, and made his professional debut when he was loaned out to Académica de Coimbra during 2000–01, helping them promote to the Primeira Liga in his second year. Despite earning a good reputation during his three-season spell, he was deemed surplus to requirements by his parent club and was released, moving to C.S. Marítimo during the 2004 off-season as part of an exchange deal with Porto which saw Pepe arrive at the Estádio do Dragão. Tonel enjoyed a hugely successful season for the Madeira side, picking up some European experience during their UEFA Cuptie against Rangers. He partnered with Dutch Mitchell van der Gaag in defence and became one of the team's leading figures, playing 28 league games and scoring once in a 2–1 home win over Boavista F.C. on 25 September 2004.
Sporting
On 23 July 2005, after an impressive season, Tonel signed a three-year deal with Sporting CP for €500,000. The second stint with another club of the Big Three was much more successful this time, as he was an everpresent figure at Sporting's back four since his arrival alongside Brazil international Ânderson Polga, also scoring the occasional goal on set pieces. After furthering his link with the Lions until 2011, Tonel scored five goals overall during 2007–08, including one in a 2–1 win at FC Dynamo Kyiv for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. In late October 2008, after an injury in a draw at F.C. Paços de Ferreira, he lost his place to youth graduate Daniel Carriço, and never regained it again during the season, although he himself took Polga's place midway through the following campaign.
On 7 January 2013, Tonel returned to his homeland and joined top division club S.C. Beira-Mar, signing until June 2014. After suffering relegation, however, he terminated his link and went on to spend a further two seasons in the second tier with C.D. Feirense.
Belenenses
On 9 June 2015, the 35-year-old Tonel returned to the Portuguese top division after agreeing to a one-year contract with C.F. Os Belenenses. Early into the campaign, he was criticised for committing a 90th-minute penalty in favour of his former team Sporting when the score was 0–0 at the Estádio José Alvalade, with his action resulting in an eventual loss.
Management
After retiring, Tonel became sporting director of his hometown club Lusitânia FC. In March 2017, he replaced Martelinho as its manager in the Aveiro Football Association's first district league. He was himself relieved of his duties in June. In January 2018, Tonel was appointed at C.F. União de Lamas in the same competition. He left six months later, having led them to fourth place.
