Augusto Matías Fernández (; born 10 April 1986) is an Argentine former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

River Plate

Born in

Pergamino, Buenos Aires Pergamino () is an Argentine city in the Province of Buenos Aires. It has a population of about 104,985 inhabitants as per the and is the administrative seat of its county, Pergamino Partido. Its UN/LOCODE is ARPGO. History Long valued for its ma ...

, Fernández was a River Plate youth graduate. He made his first team debut on 29 January 2006, coming on as a substitute for Jonathan Santana in a 5–0 away routing of Tiro Federal. Fernández scored his first professional goal on 8 April 2007, netting the equalizer in a 1–1 home draw against

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Belg ...

. With River he won the 2008 Clausura under Diego Simeone's coaching, playing on 15 of the 19 games (9 starts).

Saint-Etienne

On 28 August 2009, after fellow Argentine

Gonzalo Bergessio Gonzalo Rubén Bergessio (; born 20 July 1984) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for Club Atlético Platense. Club career Early career Born in Córdoba, Córdoba Province, Bergessio started his career in the lower ...

joined

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

, Fernández arrived to the aforementioned French club. He was loaned to the French club by a third-party owner of his rights, Israeli businessman Pinhas Zahavi. Fernández made his

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

debut on 13 September 2009, starting in a 0–1 loss at

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pl ...

, and scored his first goal in the category roughly a month later in a 3–1 home win against

FC Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde (de ...

. However, he only appeared in 12 matches during the campaign, as his side narrowly avoided relegation.

Vélez Sarsfield

On 9 July 2010, Fernández signed a three-year deal with

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

side Vélez Sarsfield, who bought 100% of his rights from Pinhas Zahavi for a fee of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.5 million. In his first tournament with his new club, the 2010 Apertura, he played 12 games (all as a starter) on Vélez' runner-up campaign. Fernández totalled 17 games (over 19) and 4 goals in his team's 2011 Clausura-winning campaign, and 10 games (over 12) and 4 goals in their

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

semi-finalist campaign. During the semester, he scored in 57 days twice as many goals as he had during his entire professional career: 3 in the Copa Libertadores and another 3 in the Argentine league. Against

L.D.U. Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

in the Copa Libertadores round of 16, he also scored his first double.

Celta

On 8 August 2012, Fernández joined newly promoted

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

on a four-year deal. He made his debut in the category ten days later, starting in a 0–1 home loss against

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

. Fernández scored his first goal in the main category of Spanish football on 22 September 2012, netting the first in a 2–1 home success over

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

. He finished the season as an ever-present figure for the Galicians, appearing in 36 matches and scoring six goals as his side narrowly avoided relegation. Fernández was still a first-choice in the following campaigns, with the side now finishing in mid-table positions. On 3 October 2014, he was appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the club, replacing

Borja Oubiña Borja Oubiña Meléndez (born 17 May 1982) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. After starting his professional career at local Celta, he played in England with Birmingham City in 2007, but his spell was immedia ...

Atlético Madrid

On 1 January 2016, Fernández joined

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee, mainly as a cover to the injured Tiago. He made his debut 5 days later, playing 57 minutes of a

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

draw away to Rayo Vallecano before being replaced by

Luciano Vietto Luciano Darío Vietto (; born 5 December 1993) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal. Club career Early career Vietto was born in the small town of Balnearia in the Province of Córdoba. He joi ...

; he made his first league appearance for the club on 11 January, against Celta, his former team. Later, he started in the 2016 Champions League final, although he was substituted off at half-time. He only made 8 appearances in the following seasons with the ''Rojiblancos''.

Beijing Renhe

On 31 January 2018, Fernández signed with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

club Beijing Renhe on an undisclosed fee.

Cádiz

On 23 June 2020, Fernández returned to Spain and joined

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

for the remainder of the season. He signed an extension for the following season later, with the club achieving promotion to the La Liga. On 21 May 2021, after securing first division football for the upcoming season, Fernández announced his retirement from football.

International career

Fernández made his full international debut for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on 15 September 2011, starting in a 0–0

Superclásico de las Américas The Superclassic of the Americas ( pt, Superclássico das Américas, es, Superclásico de las Américas), is an annual friendly football match between the national teams of Argentina and Brazil. Established in 2011 and organized by CONMEBOL, ...

home draw against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. On 2 June 2014 he was included in Alejandro Sabella's final 23-man squad for the year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, but was only an unused substitute during the whole tournament. In May 2016, he was included in

Gerardo Martino Gerardo Daniel "Tata" Martino (born 20 November 1962) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. Martino played mostly for Newell's Old Boys in his native Rosario. He holds the record of appearances with the team playing a ...

's 23-man Argentina squad for the Copa América Centenario, being a starter for most of the tournament before missing the final after getting injured in the semifinal match.

Club statistics

International

International goals

Honours

Club

River Plate *

: 2008 Clausura Vélez Sársfield *Argentine Primera División: 2011 Clausura Atletico Madrid *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

runner-up: 2015–16

International

Argentina *

runner-up:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

runner-up:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Augusto 1986 births Living people Footballers from Pergamino Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Ligue 1 players La Liga players Segunda División players Chinese Super League players Club Atlético River Plate footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers AS Saint-Étienne players RC Celta de Vigo players Atlético Madrid footballers Beijing Chengfeng F.C. players Cádiz CF players Kings League players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Copa América Centenario players Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in China