Career
Born to a relatively modest family in Almeirim, Portugal, at a time that study at the secondary school aiming the university admission was considered a luxury in Portugal, Isabelinha studied at Liceu de Santarém (secondary school in Santarém) between 1922 and 1930, playing football for Leões de Santarém team In Coimbra, at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, where he graduated in 1936, he played for Académica de Coimbra and is remembered even today. Professionally he qualified as a medical ophthalmologist in 1940.