After failing to establish himself at Porto, being loaned several times during his contract, he made a name for himself in Germany with Werder Bremen where he remained for four seasons, reaching the 2009 UEFA Cup final and scoring 63 competitive goals.

[2] Born in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra District, Almeida started playing football for hometown club Naval 1º de Maio, before being signed by Porto still as a junior.

During that campaign's UEFA Champions League he scored a spectacular goal from a 35-metre free kick against Inter Milan at the San Siro, albeit in a 2–1 loss.

He totalled ten goals in 41 appearances (in all competitions), including one in a 2–1 home loss against Espanyol in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, his shot floating over the goalkeeper and into the net in an eventual 4–2 aggregate defeat;[8] after seeing his chances at Porto definitely cut down with the arrival of strikers Edgar and Ernesto Farías in August 2007, he decided to accept Bremen's offer for a permanent switch, penning a four-year deal worth €4 million.

[9] With the departure of Miroslav Klose, who signed for Bayern Munich,[10] Almeida's chances of first-team action improved dramatically, and he started the 2007–08 season in scoring fashion, netting seven times in his first 12 league games, including two goals in a 4–1 victory over defending champions VfB Stuttgart.

[16] On Christmas Eve 2010, after scoring 11 goals in 21 official games for Bremen during the season, Almeida joined Beşiktaş in the Süper Lig, having agreed to a three-and-a-half-year contract for €2 million.

[25] On 16 January 2016, Almeida returned to Germany and signed for Hannover 96 until summer 2017, reuniting with former Werder Bremen boss Thomas Schaaf in the process.

[30] On 26 April 2017, in the return leg of the semi-finals of the Greek Football Cup against Olympiacos, Almeida played as an emergency goalkeeper for the first time in his career, after Giannis Anestis was sent off in the closing minutes of the game.

[34] He made his LigaPro debut on 18 August, playing 36 minutes in a 1–0 home defeat against Paços de Ferreira and eventually acting as a goalkeeper after Peterson Peçanha was sent off.

He made his full debut in a friendly against England on 18 February 2004, a 1–1 draw,[37] and was also part of the squad that won the 2003 Toulon Tournament, also appearing at the 2004 and 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals.

In Carlos Queiroz's second stint as national side coach, Almeida scored in a 4–0 victory in Malta on 6 September 2008, in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

[44] After being included in the list for the 2014 World Cup,[45] Almeida started in the first group stage match against Germany, but was injured after just 28 minutes of play in an eventual 4–0 defeat.