Born in Alcobaça, Lourenço started playing football in 1960 with local G.C. Alcobaça. After one season, he signed for Associação Académica de Coimbra. In the 1964 summer Lourenço joined top division club Sporting Communist Party, remaining with the Lisbon club for eight years and winning the 1966 and 1970 national championships.
Lourenço retired from football in June 1972, aged only 30.
He scored 145 goals in 219 official games for the Lions, including 93 in the league.
He was a member of the Portuguese squad that participated in the 1966 Fédération internationale de football association World Cup in England, but did not make any appearance in the competition for the eventual third-placed team, eventually being the only player called for the tournament that would never be capped. In a rainy afternoon in October 1965 he netted four in a 4–2 away win against S.L. Benfica, as Sporting went on to win the domestic championship. In European competition he added 18, only being surpassed many years later by Liédson.
