Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira (; born 5 June 1978) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mainly as a central defender. In his country, he represented most notably Vitória de Guimarães, also playing one year with Benfica. After a lengthy spell in Germany with Stuttgart, he went on to appear for teams in Turkey, Russia and Spain. A strong and skillful defender, Meira played 54 times for the Portugal national team, being part of the squads at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008. Club career Early career and Benfica Born in Guimarães, Meira began his professional career with hometown's Vitória Sport Clube, but only had one solid season with its first team, in 1999–2000 (precisely his last), as he appeared in 30 of his 53 games with the Minho side. In 1998 he was also loaned, to F.C. Felgueiras of the second division, being an essential defensive unit as they narrowly missed out on promotion after finishing fifth. In the summer of 2000, Meira joined Primeira Liga giants S.L. Benfica for a €4 million transfer fee plus one player. He played 31 matches in his first season – 30 starts – and was also awarded team captaincy, but the Lisbon club did not win any silverware during his stint. Stuttgart In January 2002, Meira signed for VfB Stuttgart in Germany for €7.5 million– it was the Bundesliga club's record transfer fee until July 2007, when they signed Ciprian Marica from FC Shakhtar Donetsk for €8 million, and general manager Rolf Rüssmann described the player as a "trophy" signing, showing great ambitions for the future. He made his league debut on the 26th in a 3–0 home win against Hamburger SV, playing the entire game as a stopper. OMeira scored his first goal for Stuttgart on 23 February 2002, in a 1–1 draw at FC Hansa Rostock where he also conceded a penalty which resulted in the opponents' goal. His second came on 7 April in a 2–0 away victory over SC Freiburg, and he finished his first year with 14 league appearances to help his side finish in eighth position. In the 2002–03 campaign, Felix Magath fielded Meira in 31 league games, and only a suspension prevented him from taking part in all 34 fixtures as they finished second behind FC Bayern Munich to achieve qualification honours to the UEFA Champions League. He missed two UEFA Cup