After scoring a career-best ten goals in the 1977–78 season with the "Students", Costa signed for FC Porto. A classic winger with an above-average physical condition – he practiced track and field and handball in his first club, S.C. Vila Real– he went on to form a formidable attacking trio in the club with Fernando Gomes and António Oliveira, being instrumental in the conquest of six major titles, including two national championships; he was voted the "Portuguese Footballer of The Year" in 1979, and also appeared as a substitute in the final of the 1983–84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, lost against Juventus F.C. in Basel.