born in guimarães, braga district, ribeiro had a modest career as a football player, and started his coaching career when he was 19 years old. before starting his senior professional coaching career in 2010, he coached f.c. tirsense and f.c. vizela youth teams. in 2010 he became assistant coach at c.d. feirense in the second division under quim machado and helped the team gain promotion to the primeira liga. his next step was to work in fc porto scouting department, where he worked directly with the first team as an opponent team analyst & scout. he was at porto from 2011 to 2013, under andré villas-boas, jesualdo ferreira and vítor pereira.