Born in
Lourenço Marques,
Portuguese Mozambique, Rodrigues started at
Grupo Desportivo 1º de Maio, after an unsuccessful try-out at
Ferroviário de Lourenço Marques. In 1962, he travelled to Portugal for a training session with the
under-18 national team. Only a few months later, at the start of
1962–63 season, he joined
Académica de Coimbra. He made his debut on 12 September 1971, in a home win to
Porto and played a total of 25 matches throughout the season, winning a league and cup double, and reached the semi-final of the
European Cup. During his spell at Benfica, he suffered minor injuries that hindered his progress in the team and with competition from
Messias and others, the 31-year old chose to leave Benfica in 1974. Rodrigues then joined
Vitória de Guimarães for two seasons, playing all of the league games in
1974–75 and receiving the captain
armband in the following year, which ended with another
Portuguese Cup final lost. Rodrigues returned to Académica in 1976, playing only 33 league appearances over three years, five of those in
1978–79 and with the team suffering relegation, the 36-year-old retired from football. In the following four years, he managed several teams, notably
Leça and
Beira-Mar (twice), returning to Benfica in 1995 on invitation of
Artur Jorge to coach the under-12, winning the
Campeonato Nacional de Infantis. ==International career==