Coming through the youth teams of Football Club Porto, Tonel was born in Lourosa, Santa Maria da Feira, and made his professional debut when he was loaned out to Académica de Coimbra during the 2000-2001 season, helping the club promote to the top division in his second year.
He also played three years in Croatia with Dinamo Zagreb. Porto / Marítimo
Sporting
On 23 July 2005, after an impressive season, Tonel signed a three-year deal with Sporting Clube de Portugal for €500,000. The second stint with another side of the Big Three was much more successful this time, as he was an everpresent figure at Sporting"s back four since his arrival alongside Brazilian international Ânderson Polga, also scoring the occasional goal on set pieces.
In late October 2008, after an injury in a draw at F.C. Paços de Ferreira, Tonel lost his place to youth graduate Daniel Carriço, and never regained it again during the season, although he himself took Polga"s place midway through the following campaign.
Dinamo Zagreb
On 27 August 2010, after falling out of favour with new manager Paulo Sérgio, 30-year-old Tonel signed for Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb. He made his official debut in an Eternal derby match against HNK Hajduk Split on 11 September.
He was awarded Number. 13 shirt in domestic competition, but played with Number.
28 in European fixtures, as Dario Šimić had been registered with the former number at the start of the 2010-2011 season, before retiring in August 2010. Tonel was released by Dinamo at the end of his contract, in December 2012.
Beira-March
On 7 January 2013 Tonel returned to his homeland and joined top division club South Carolina (U.S.) Beira-March, signing until June 2014. After suffering relegation, however, he terminated his link and went on to spend a further two seasons in the second tier with Communicative Disorders Feirense.
Belenenses
In the 2015-2016 season, Tonel was criticized for committing a penalty in favour of his former team Sporting when the score was 0–0 at Alvalade, with Belenenses losing the match with that penalty in extra time.
Sporting
Taça de Portugal: 2006-2007, 2007-2008
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2007, 2008
Taça da Liga: Runner-up 2007-2008, 2008-2009
Dinamo Zagreb
Croatian First Football League: 2010-2011, 2011-2012
Croatian Football Cup: 2010-2011, 2011-2012.
Over the course of nine seasons he amassed Primeira Liga totals of 211 games and 17 goals, mainly representing Sporting with which he won four major titles. Tonel enjoyed a hugely successful season for the Madeira team, picking up some European experience during the club"s Union of European Football Associations Cup tie against Rangers. He formed a fomidable partnership with Dutch Mitchell van der Gaag in defence and became one of the team"s leading figures, playing 28 league games and scoring once, in a 2–1 home win over Boavista F.C. on 25 September 2004. Shortly after furthering his link with the Lions until 2011, he scored five goals overall during 2007-2008, including one in a 2–1 win at Football Club Dynamo Kyiv for the season"s Union of European Football Associations Champions League (incidentally, Polga netted the other). Tonel made his debut with Portugal in a Union of European Football Associations Euro 2008 qualifier against Kazakhstan in Coimbra, playing 77 minutes in a 3–0 win on 15 November 2006. His second cap came more than three years after (on 3 March 2010), as he was called as a last-minute replacement for injured Ricardo Carvalho for a friendly with China, played in the same venue (2–0 win).
