Fernando Miguel Fernández Escribano, known simply as Fernando (; born 2 June 1979), is a Spanish 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 mainly as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

but also as a

supporting striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. Over 12 seasons, he amassed

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 ...

totals of 276 matches and 55 goals, mostly at Betis (six years) and

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

(three). In the competition, he also appeared for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

Playing career

Club

Real Madrid

Fernando was born in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

. After starting at hometown's

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, ...

, he finished his football development in the ranks of

giants

, going on to appear once for its first team in the 1999–2000 season, against

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

(90 minutes, 1–0 home win). After that, Fernando joined

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

on loan as many Real Madrid ''

cantera Cantera, literally meaning "quarry" in Spanish, is a term used in Spain to refer to youth academies and farm teams organized by sports clubs. It is also used to refer to the geographical area that clubs recruit players from. The term is widely u ...

nos'' would move to that club in that timeframe ( Alberto Marcos, Víctor, José García Calvo, etc.).

Betis

In the summer of 2002, Fernando signed with

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

, scoring 15 goals in his debut campaign, with the team finishing in eighth place thanks greatly to his braces against Málaga (3–0),

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

(4–2) and

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

(3–2). He won the only trophy of his career in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, the 2–1

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 ...

victory over

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El Sa ...

. On 27 June 2008, as his role was a lesser one from 2005 to 2008 – only ten matches in his last season – Fernando signed a four-year contract with Málaga, returning to his first youth club after 11 years.

Málaga and later years

Fernando netted his first league goal for Málaga on 23 September 2009 against Espanyol, more than one year after arriving; however, this happened in a 2–1 away loss. Sparingly used in his debut season, he became a starter in 2009–10, scoring on five occasions. Fernando continued in the starting lineups in the 2010–11 campaign, under new manager

Jesualdo Ferreira Manuel Jesualdo Ferreira (born 24 May 1946) is a Portuguese football manager. He is currently the manager of Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier League. In a managerial career of over forty years, he was in charge of all of his country's Big Three ...

. In the second matchday, he scored twice in a 5–3 win at Zaragoza, the first goal coming after just 73 seconds. Rarely used by the following coach,

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Lúis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed teams in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China and Ecuador. ...

, he still contributed 21 games as the ''Boquerones'' finally avoided relegation. On 21 August 2011, the 32-year-old Fernando was released from his contract. He moved abroad for the first time on 4 February of the following year, joining several compatriots at Hungarian side

Diósgyőri VTK Diósgyőr-Vasgyári Testgyakorlók Köre, more commonly Diósgyőri VTK () is a Hungarian sports club from Diósgyőr district of Miskolc best known for its football team. Founded in 1910 by the local working class youth, the team plays in the ...

. He retired from football in June 2013.

International

Fernando won four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Spain at under-21 level in six months. His first arrived on 27 February 2001, when he played the second half of the 4–0 friendly defeat of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Coaching career

Fernando started working as a full-time manager in 2016, with amateurs

CD El Palo El Palo Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1971 it currently plays in Tercera División – Group 9, holding home matches at ''Estadio San Ignacio'', with a 2,000-seat ...

which he had already coached briefly the previous year after starting out with their youths. Early into the season in

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

, he resigned. On 23 April 2018, Fernando was appointed at former club Diósgyőr with the purpose of avoiding relegation from the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

, which was finally achieved. On 3 September 2019, with his team placed last in the standings and following a 1–0 defeat against

Ferencvárosi TC Ferencvárosi Torna Club, known as Ferencváros (), Fradi, or simply FTC, is a professional football club based in Ferencváros, Budapest, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hungarian football. Ferencváros wa ...

at the

Groupama Arena Groupama an abbreviation for Groupe des Assurances Mutuelles Agricoles ( en , Group of Mutual Agricultural Insurances) is a French insurance group headquartered in Paris with operations in 10 countries. It is listed in the 2007 ICA Global 300 ...

, he was dismissed. Fernando returned to Betis in summer 2020, reuniting with Pellegrini as part of the newly signed manager's staff.

Honours

Málaga *

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

: 1997–98 Betis *

: 2004–05

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando Fernandez 1979 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Málaga Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División B players Málaga CF players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Real Valladolid players Real Betis players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Diósgyőri VTK players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Spanish football managers Tercera División managers Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers Diósgyőri VTK managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Hungary Real Betis non-playing staff