Carlos Jorge Marques Caldas Xavier (born 26 January 1962) is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a midfielder.
Born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique, Xavier began his professional career with Lisbon-based Sporting CP, already being a regular first-team fixture at age 19.
[1] In 1991, after more than 250 competitive appearances, Xavier moved, alongside compatriot and teammate Oceano, to Spain's Real Sociedad, where the pair was equally influential, having been reunited with former Sporting boss John Toshack at the La Liga side.
A forward, he represented several teams in the country (coinciding with Carlos at Académica de Coimbra) in an 18-year professional career.
[4] On 8 September 2023, while speaking to Sporting TV, he referred to FC Porto Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi as "a Muslim who, when he came to Portugal, didn’t know how to swim and now he knows how to dive"; as a result, the club was fined €15,300 by the Portuguese Football Federation.