José Maria Ribeiro da Cunha
José Maria Pinto Sousa Ribeiro Cunha (born 27 March 2001), known as José Cunha, José da Cunha, or Zé Maria, is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a defender. Early life Cunha began playing at age three. He joined the famed Sporting CP Youth Academy, before moving on to the youth system of G.D. Estoril Praia, where he captained the U17 and U19 teams. He briefly played for Union FC in Bradford, Ontario in 2018 during their 2018 NCAA March Break Tour, where they played against NCAA college teams Akron, Maryland, and Georgetown. University career Cunha had initially attended the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa in Portugal, while playing in the top division U19 division in Portugal, but decided to send game tapes to universities in Canada and the United States. He made the decision to come to North America, as he wanted to pursue education and football simultaneously, which was not really viable to do in Portugal. Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada became interested in him and he decided to attend there and play for their Capers soccer team beginning in the 2020-21 year. However, he was unable to make his debut for the Capers due to