Career
During his extensive professional career, the no-nonsense midfield battler played more years abroad (Italy, eight) than in his country of adoption (seven), where he represented mainly Sporting. A Portuguese international for two years, Vidigal appeared with the national team at Euro 2000, helping it to the third place. Early years / Sporting
Born in Sá da Bandeira, Portuguese Angola, Vidigal moved to Portugal at an early age, and started his footballing career with amateurs O Elvas Computer-aided Design, moving in 1994 to the second division with G.D. Estoril-Praia.
The following year Vidigal signed with another team from the Lisbon area, Sporting Clube de Portugal in the Primeira Liga.
Italy spell
At 27, Vidigal moved to Italy, where he would remain the following eight years: he started out with South.S.C. Napoli, having signed along Sporting teammates Facundo Quiroga and Abdelilah Saber, but only played in four Serie A matches in his first year and the team was also relegated (his best individual year – 33 appearances, five goals – was incidentally spent in the second division, but the Campania outfit faced another relegation, eventually ending 16th). In 2003-2004 Napoli finished higher, but was finally relegated off the pitch.
Upon this Vidigal moved to fellow league side Associate of Science Livorno Calcio, starting throughout most of the season and helping the club to a comfortable ninth position. In his final three years Vidigal was irregularly used, often from the bench, representing Udinese Calcio (one year) and returning to Livorno where he played until 2008.
Return to Portugal
In his first game, on 28 September 2008, he scored twice to help beat Communicative Disorders Nacional 2–1.
However, he missed most of the season due to injury as the capital-based club was also immerse in a severe financial crisis – eventually being relegated from the top flight to the third level He retired from the game shortly after. Vidigal gained 15 caps for Portugal, his first one being on 23 February 2000 in a 1–1 draw with Belgium at Charleroi, in a friendly match.
Summoned to Union of European Football Associations Euro 2000, he had to battle for position with Paulo Bento and Costinha (Paulo Sousa was also called, but was injured), but managed to appear in four games for the national team, including the semi-final loss against France.
Vidigal"s last match came on 12 October 2002 in the 1–1 draw with Tunisia played in Lisbon, in another friendly. He also represented the nation at the 1996 Summer Olympics, playing all the games en route to the fourth place.