Os Belenenses' academy, Lisbon-born Brandão scored in his second match in the Primeira Liga aged 17, against FC Porto in a 1–4 home loss on 18 October 2003 when he still had not finished his youth career.
[6] After a shaky start – he only made his league debut on 20 December in a 1–2 home defeat to Inter Milan[7]– he finished his first season as a starter.
[9] In the following summer, the clubs were involved in a player-only transaction which saw Parma sign Brandão, Alessandro Iacobucci, Giuseppe Pacini and Andrea Rossi, while Siena acquired Manuel Coppola, Paolo Hernán Dellafiore, Abdou Doumbia and Alberto Galuppo – both organisations also retained 50% registration rights on their players.
[15] However, the Italians declared their liquidation on 15 July as the club did not meet the financial requirements for the upcoming season,[16] and the player re-joined Belenenses as a free agent.
[23][24] After having represented Portugal at almost every youth level, including the under-21s,[25] Brandão made his debut for the full side on 31 March 2009, appearing as a left-back in a 2–0 friendly victory against South Africa in Lausanne, Switzerland.