Luisao

Luisão made his debut for Brazil on 23 July 2001, against Honduras, in the quarter-finals of 2001 Copa América.

In 2003, Luisão was named in the squad for the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where Brazil, competing with their under-23 team, finished as runner-up to Mexico. On 8 December 2003, Luisão was called up by Ricardo Gomes for the Olympic qualification tournament with the consent of Benfica. However, a few days later, the club changed its position and decided not to release the player due to a derby against Sporting.

He represented the nation in its 2004 Copa América win, playing in all six matches, including a 1–2 loss against Paraguay – where he was team captain – and the final against Argentina where he scored his first international goal.

During the 2004–05 season Luisão featured regularly in Benfica's central defence alongside Ricardo Rocha, appearing in 29 matches and contributing heavily for Benfica's first league title in 11 years. On 24 April 2005, in a 2–1 away victory over G.D. Estoril Praia, he scored his first goal of the season, the match's equaliser. On 14 May, he found the net through a header against Lisbon rivals Sporting CP, scoring the match's only goal and ousting the opponents from the title race.

The 2005–06 season finished without silverware for Benfica, with Luisão again as an automatic first-choice. However, the team reached the season's UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, with the defender playing all the matches and minutes in the competition. On 21 February 2006, he scored in his side's 1–0 home win against holders Liverpool, which had lost just 1 of 13 European matches the previous year and 5 of 41 away from home. He also started in the second leg, a 2–0 win at Anfield.

In the next year, Luisão was named in the Brazilian squad for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, but did not play a single second, meeting the same fate in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. After the latter tournament, when Dunga was hired as the new coach, he began to play more often.

During the following season, in January 2008, Luisão was involved in an on-field argument with Greek teammate Kostas Katsouranis during a league match against Vitória de Setúbal. The argument arose after Katsouranis' misplaced pass, which forced the Brazilian to commit a foul in order to stop play. After receiving a yellow card for the foul, Luisão criticized Katsouranis, who responded in a similar manner. The two players were on the point of breaking into violence before teammates separated them. Both players were then quickly substituted and issued suspensions by the club, with the two later apologizing to each other. Again during the season, Luisão dealt with some injuries and inconsistent play and also addressed rumours of another possible move from Benfica.

On 28 August 2010, Luisão scored – through a header – against Vitória de Setúbal at home as ten-men Benfica eventually won the match 3–0. On 14 September, he entered the Champions League's history books after opening the scoring against Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv in the competition's group stage.

On 11 August 2012, in the last minutes of the first half of a friendly with Fortuna Düsseldorf, Luisão reportedly pushed referee Christian Fischer to the ground as he was about to send off teammate Javi García for two reckless challenges on Oliver Fink. The referee refused to resume the match and suspended it, proceeding to announce that he would take legal action against Luisão. On 14 September, Luisão was initially suspended for two months for his actions, also being fined €2,550. The ruling of the Portuguese Football Federation was still subject to the approval of FIFA, which was confirmed shortly after, causing the player to miss 11 matches, including the Champions League matches against Celtic and FC Barcelona.

On 13 March 2014, while appearing in his 117th match in European competitions, Luisão scored two goals to help Benfica to a 3–1 away win against Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16. In the following season, Luisão equalized Eusébio with a total of 440 official appearances at Benfica after appearing in a 0–4 win at Marítimo in the Primeira Liga on 18 January 2015. On 21 February, he scored the tying goal in a victory at Moreirense (1–3) counting for the league. Seven days later, he equalized António Simões as the seventh player with the most appearances, 447. On 26 April, then with 229 matches, Luisão surpassed Mário Coluna as the longest-serving captain at Benfica. Later on, by winning the 2017 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, Luisão became the Benfica player with most titles won for the club.

On 25 September 2018, at the Estádio da Luz, Luisão announced his retirement from professional football.