HENRIK Larsson and Brian Laudrup may have lit up the Scottish game like no others in the modern era, but few typify the freedom of movement for players the EU brings than a journeyman who plied his trade for Hamilton Accies, Hearts and St Mirren.
Winger Jose Quitongo arrived in Scotland via Portugal, Sweden and the Irish Republic just out of his teens in the mid-1990s and more than two decades on still lives in the Lanarkshire town where he found his first Scots club.
And his legacy may be more than the cult status he still enjoys among fans of Scottish football.
Stuart Cosgrove: Can Scottish football make the most out of Brexit?
Shortly after his arrival he became a father to a son.
Jai Quitongo, a winger like his father, is now pivotal to Greenock Morton’s most successful spell in years and a key member of Scotland’s under-21 squad.
Born in war-torn Angola, Jose Quitongo joined Benfica’s academy aged just 10, Portugal having deep colonial links with his home country.
Seven years later, and despite team-mates including later legends Rui Costa and Nuno Gomes, he failed to break into the Lisbon giant’s squad, a broken leg hampering his progress.
Peter O'Donnell: Will footballers be given preferential treatment in immigration rules?
But his time in Portugal, often seen as a backdoor to Europe for Africans and Brazilians, did give him an EU passport and an opportunity to further his career in more modest settings.
Mr Quitongo, 42, said: “I’d been at the Benfica academy since I was a boy. I ate and slept at that stadium. I grew up there.
“Because I’d been in Portugal for more than five years I was able to get national status.
“I’d broken my leg but after that it was an easy decision as I had the passport and could travel.
“I just looked at it as a challenge, new places I could go to and play.
“A friend had gone to play in Birmingham so I followed him.
“I’d never any issues with visas or immigration.
“The cold was the biggest thing I was told would be a problem and even that didn’t bother me.
“After Jai was born I still needed to travel for the money to raise a family but Scotland was my home from the start, people treated me very well and it is an amazing country.”
Gerry Carlile: Doubt and uncertainty lie ahead as we get set to leave EU
So what does he think about the possibility that Brexit may mean others are denied the same opportunities as him?
Indeed, it could even restrict his own son’s progress should Ajax, Juventus, or Madrid ever come calling. He said: “I am hearing of these problems for the first time and don’t understand why anyone would think these restrictions are a good thing.
“All the 18 and 19-year-olds on the continent want to come to England and some will have thought about Scotland. This will make it so much more difficult.
“We don’t have much of a culture of our players going abroad.
“Apart from John Collins in France, Paul Lambert in Germany and Ryan Gauld in Portugal it is difficult to think of many.
“But they should have the opportunity.
“But being able to move, to play, to experience different clubs in different countries has been fantastic and it’s sad others may be denied this.
“Why do we want to go down this road?
“It really is a shame.
“Jai? Well, I can’t complain.
“He’s doing very well at the moment, both for Morton and his country. I’ve been here all these years so it makes me very proud.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel