He represented mostly Braga (three seasons) and Rio Ave (four) in a 19-year senior career, also having a one-and-a-half-season spell at Benfica and amassing Primeira Liga totals of 261 matches and 101 goals.
Benfica (scoring 17 goals in his only full season, 2000–01),[3] Real Betis – joining in summer 2001 alongside his teammate José Calado,[5] he netted seven times in La Liga in his debut campaign, but appeared scarcely in the second[6][7]– Vitória de Guimarães and S.C. Braga,[8] to where he returned after a Qatar Stars League stint in 2006–07 with Al-Arabi SC and Al-Rayyan SC, having left for Asia for free.
[18][8] On 30 October 2010, Tomás scored in a 2–0 home win against his former team Braga, as Rio Ave won their first game of the campaign; earlier, in the first half, he missed a penalty kick.
Libolo in the Angolan Girabola;[21] Shortly before that, his hat-trick helped the visitors to defeat Vitória de Setúbal 5–3, and he reached 101 goals in the Portuguese top tier in the process.
[25] On 22 May 2007, after a 5+1⁄2-year absence, Tomás was recalled to the national team by Luiz Felipe Scolari,[26] playing against a Kuwaiti club on 5 June in Kuwait City and scoring in the 1–1 draw.