Portugal
The Legend
When it comes to a footballing background, surprisingly Dani never actually played for a club in Portugal.
Dani trained with Boavista as a youngster, however he focused much more on Tennis, playing up until high school age. Dani played football with friends, and in school tournaments but never felt the need to join a team, preferring to play Futsal.
In 2006, Dani spent Erasmus in Denmark and joined the university football team, Vitus Vikings. This was Silva’s first real taste of men’s 11-a-side and the team competed to a similar level to the Dragoons.
Having moved from Porto to Kraków in 2016, Dani discovered the Kraków football group and came along to the kick around each week. The group turned from a weekly game with friends to competing in the Kraków Sunday league as the Dragoons, before acceptance into the Polish league system.
Dani’s favourite moment in his time as a Dragoon is now written in folklore. The first Dragoons match in the Puchar Polski against Fairant is an easy choice! A beautiful summer’s day with lots of people in attendance creating a great atmosphere. As someone who had been there from the start, the excitement of achieving something that appeared to be just a dream finally happened, not just for Dani but the whole club.
Of course, it could not have gone any better for Dani personally. The mercurial attacker scored the first ever Dragoons goal and ended the match with a hat-trick in a stunning 6-0 victory.
Dani is one of only a few members that have been with the Dragoons since the very, very start and as of the 2023/24 season the only player to score in every season for the club!
#FunFact
According to family legend, as a kid Dani would get so overexcited when drinking Coca-Cola that once it is said he almost set a restaurant table on fire during a family dinner… Away from the destructive force of Coke, Dani learned to read with an FC Porto book and learned English watching WWF Wrestling on the TV, despite on many occasions the satellite channel signal being encrypted with no picture but lines of static and only the sound. If that isn’t enough, Dani showed his musical talent playing drums in a band in front of 4000 people, opening two shows for the Dutch band Within Temptation. Impressive!
