 Born in France to parents of Moroccan and Portuguese descent, he played for Portugal Under-21s before switching to play senior international football for Morocco.Manuel da Costa began his career at Ligue 1 club AS Nancy.As well as his ten appearances in Ligue 1 in the 2005–06 season with his debut coming in January – da Costa scored a memorable individual goal to help Nancy defeat Le Mans in the French League Cup semi-finals.