# Daniel Batista Lima

Daniel Batista Lima (Greek: Ντανιέλ Μπατίστα Λίμα; born 9 September 1964) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in Cape Verde, he represented Greece internationally. He is the technical director of Ethnikos Piraeus.

## Club career

Batista started his football career at the academies of Feyenoord Rotterdam. After a while playing there, a good friend of him who was also a Feyenoord supporter brought him to Greece to follow his career there. Batista played for Ethnikos Piraeus, where he impressed and soon caused the interest of the big clubs of Athens. In the summer of 1989 Olympiacos strongly claimed him, but he preferred to sign for AEK Athens.
It didn't take long for him to impress at AEK as well. He started very well from his very first season at AEK, even though he had some injuries. Alongside Patikas and Christodoulou, he formed a good trio in the "yellow-black" offense. The following season was not a good one for the team, but Batista again had a very good season, while among other things he also scored the winning goal against Olympiacos. In both of these years, Batista played mainly as a striker, but the arrival of Dimitriadis and Alexandris in the summer of 1991, made Bajević to play Batista behind the two strikers, in order to "fit" all of them in the starting eleven. Batista formed an excellent duo with Dimitriadis in the attack and helped AEK to win the championship, while also having excellent performance in the UEFA Cup, scoring at all home games against the likes of Vlaznia Shkodër, Spartak Moscow and Torino.
In the summer of 1992, with the expiration of his contract and during a period of administrative changes at AEK, he decided to move to Olympiacos, displeasing the people of the "yellow-blacks". In the club of Piraeus, he had a good presence, but did not reach the high standards he had at AEK. Nevetheless, he scored multiple times against his former club. In the summer of 1995, he returned to AEK and got an excellent performance again, as he played a big part in winning the cup, scoring 2 times in the final with Apollon Athens. The following season was also great, despite facing some injuries, creating an excellent trio in the attack with Kostis and Nikolaidis, in a season where AEK was again crowned cup winner. In AEK he played for another 2 seasons and despite the new injuries contributed to club. With AEK he won 1 championship, 2 cups, 2 Super Cup and 1 League Cup. In the summer of 1999, he was released from the club and moved to Aris. Batista retired in the summer of 2001 at the age of 36.

## International career

Batista became a naturalized citizen of Greece and debuted in the Greece national team on 12 October 1994. At the time, he held the distinction of being the only Greek athlete of black ethnicity to achieve this. He played 14 times scoring twice.

## Managerial career

After his playing days were over, Batista coached Diagoras, Fostiras, he was the director of football of Lamia, head coach of AO Nea Ionia, AEK Athens U20, Peramaikos and a technical director of Niki Volos. From the summer of 2021 he is the technical director of Ethnikos Piraeus.

## Personal life

Batista's uncle, Noni Lima was a former footballer who had a successful career in Greece at Panionios. His nephew and Noni's son, Konstantinos is also a footballer.

## Career statistics

| National team | Season | Apps | Goals |
| Greece | 1994 | 6 | 1 |
| Greece | 1995 | 6 | 0 |
| Greece | 1996 | 2 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 14 | 2 |

## Honours

AEK Athens
* Alpha Ethniki: 1991–92
* Greek Cup: 1995–96, 1996–97
* Greek Super Cup: 1989, 1996
* Greek League Cup: 1990
* Pre-Mediterranean Cup: 1991
Olympiacos
* Greek Super Cup: 1992