Rui Manuel Marques (born 3 September 1977) is an Angolan former football defender who was a first choice centre-back for the Angola national team.
After only six months with Hertha, Marques moved to fellow Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart, spending three and a half seasons there and winning the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup after beating French side Lille.
[2] He was signed by manager Kevin Blackwell, but Marques made only one appearance for Leeds in the 2005–06 season in the League Cup against Oldham Athletic, in which he was clearly very nervous and uncomfortable playing out of position at right-back.
Marques did not feature again for Leeds that season, with Paul Butler, Sean Gregan, Matthew Kilgallon, Clarke Carlisle and Michael Duberry all ahead of him in the pecking order.
He represented Angola in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and was one of two Leeds players to take part in that tournament, Eddie Lewis being the other, for the United States.
[4] Marques was eventually called up to the first team squad for Leeds' 2–1 victory against Coventry City on 1 January 2007, where he turned in a solid performance at centre-back.
With questions mounting about whether his contract would be extended, Marques stated he would prefer to concentrate on Leeds' relegation battle than signing a new deal.
Marques was a regular starter in the first team and scored his first goal for Leeds on 18 August 2007 in the 4–1 drubbing of Southend United in the dying minutes of the match.
On his return, Marques established himself as fourth-choice captain at Leeds,[6] taking up the armband for most of March 2008 while Alan Thompson, Jonathan Douglas and Andy Hughes were out injured.
After a poor start to the 2008–09 season, with Leeds' defence leaking a lot of goals, McAllister was sacked and was replaced by Simon Grayson.
With Sam Sodje's loan spell over and captain Richard Naylor injured, Marques found himself as first choice central defence partnership with Patrick Kisnorbo at the start of the 2009–10 season.
However, Marques lost his starting place when he suffered an Achilles injury while on international duty in September, and dropped down the pecking order when he was out injured when Leeds completed the signing of Leigh Bromby.