Having not yet featured for the reserves, Ferreira made his La Liga debut on 9 September 1984 aged 17 years, 110 days, in a 0–3 away defeat against Sevilla FC – a club record as the youngest player in the competition.
[1] A strike by the professional players had forced the organizations to field their youngsters ahead of schedule,[2] and he did not play another league game with the first team for two years; his record stood until Iker Muniain's debut, in August 2009.
He amassed more than 400 official appearances during his 17 years at senior level, 358 in La Liga alone, scoring 22 goals in the competition;[4] career highlights included winning the Copa del Rey twice in a row with Atlético in the early 90s, and featuring in three group stage matches of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League with Athletic.
Ferreira retired in 2001 at the age of 34, after a slow year with Rayo – the side from the Madrid outskirts finished in 14th position, and he appeared in less than one third of the league matches.
He subsequently became a coach, working as assistant to Gaizka Garitano at SD Eibar;[4] in June 2016, the pair joined Deportivo de La Coruña.