Born in Montijo, Setúbal, Ricardo started his career at hometown club C.D. Montijo, signing with Boavista F.C. in 1995. After battling during several seasons for first-choice status with William Andem he eventually became first-choice, and appeared in 28 matches in the Chequereds2000–01 conquest of the Primeira Liga championship, the club's only title in its history. Ricardo was one of the latter team's most influential players in their 2002–03 campaign in the UEFA Cup, in a run that would only stop in the competition's semi-finals. In the following off-season, he joined Sporting CP for a fee of €7 million and 20% from the value of any future transfer. An undisputed starter from his beginnings, Ricardo backstopped the side to the final of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, a 1–3 home loss against PFC CSKA Moscow.
Betis
On 9 July 2007, Ricardo was linked with a transfer to Real Betis and, two days later, he signed a four-year contract with the La Liga club. His league debut took place against Recreativo de Huelva on 26 August, a 1–1 away draw; having started the season as first-choice, he eventually lost the position to trainee Casto, but would regain his status for two of the last three games as the Andalusians avoided relegation. In 2008–09, as manager Francisco Chaparro, who arrived midway through the previous season, started on the bench, Ricardo lost the battle for first-choice, having to settle with Copa del Rey matches, a situation which would revert midway through the campaign as Betis eventually suffered relegation. The following year he was backup to Iñaki Goitia and made no appearances as his team finished fourth and were not promoted. Ricardo was not given any shirt number for 2010–11, being limited to training with the Pepe Mel-led squad, and later released from his contract in January 2011 – it was due to expire in June of that year.
Ricardo started training with Football League Championship's Leicester City, and joined the team on 31 January 2011, signing until the end of the season, and citing manager Sven-Göran Eriksson as his motivation for making the move. He made his official debut on 12 February, in a 2–0 win over Derby County at Pride Park Stadium. On 21 May 2011, Leicester confirmed it would not renew Ricardo's contract, due to expire on 30 June. In mid-August he signed for Vitória de Setúbal, returning to his country after four years. Ricardo retired in 2014 after two years with S.C. Olhanense. He remained on the Algarve, settling in Vilamoura and setting up R1 Real Estate.
International career
Ricardo made his debut for the Portugal national team on 2 June 2001 against the Republic of Ireland, taking the place of Vítor Baía who was recovering from a serious knee injury. However, he would be his backup in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 2004 on home soil against England, Ricardo helped Portugal win on penalties: with the score at 5–5 he first saved the shot of Darius Vassell with his gloves off, and then scored the deciding penalty. In the final against Greece, however, he misjudged a corner when coming for the ball, and Angelos Charisteas headed the only goal of the game. In the 2006 World Cupgroup stage, Ricardo kept two clean sheets and was only beaten once, by Mexico's Francisco Fonseca, as the national side won all three matches. They once again knocked out England in the quarter-finals of a major tournamenton penalties, as he saved from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in a 3–1 shootout win after a 0–0 draw with extra time, becoming the first keeper to save three times in a World Cup shootout; the country finished fourth, and he was named to the tournament All-Star team as one of the three best goalkeepers. Despite some criticism, Ricardo remained first-choice in Euro 2008, playing all of the matches as Portugal was eliminated by Germany 3–2 in the quarter-finals, where he misjudged two clearances which led to headed goals. After he lost his position at Betis he was not called up for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, being replaced by S.L. Benfica's Quim and later Eduardo.
