In a career cut short by injury and suspension, he appeared in 230 Primeira Liga games (scoring 51 goals), also playing for Real Sociedad in Spain for two years.Sá Pinto represented the Portugal national team in two European Championships, reaching the semi-finals at Euro 2000. He started working as a manager with Sporting in 2012, and also worked in eight foreign countries.In the 1994–95 season, Sá Pinto joined Sporting CP.