[3] Before 1968–69 started, Mourinho signed for fellow top-division club Belenenses, finishing in a personal best-ever second position in his fifth season – with the subsequent qualification for the UEFA Cup – and retiring in June of the following year at the age of 36.
He earned one cap for the Portugal national team, coming on as a substitute for Benfica's José Henrique in the dying minutes of a 2–1 win against the Republic of Ireland in the 1972 Brazil Independence Cup.
He left the team midway through the campaign and rejoined the Segunda Liga with Rio Ave,[4] achieving the same feat after winning seven matches in 11.
[3] Mourinho's only full seasons in the top flight were 1981–82 and 1983–84, leading Rio Ave to the fifth place in the former and the final of the domestic cup in the latter.
However, president José Maria Pinho, fearing the threat of nepotism, overruled the decision to do so;[7] the incident saw the pair leave the club to join Belenenses the following summer – before that, the manager was considered for the Portugal job, but he was passed over for Fernando Cabrita.