Fernando Manuel Antunes Mendes (born 5 November 1966) is a Portuguese former

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 ...

who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Mendes was born in

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

. Having been brought up at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

's youth system at the same time as

Paulo Futre Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre (; born 28 February 1966) is a Portuguese former footballer who played mostly as a left winger. He is one of the greatest natural talents of the Portugal. After starting playing for Sporting, he moved to Porto – ...

, he made his first-team debut in 1984–85 aged 18, and reached the Portugal national team shortly after. In the following seasons he started regularly for the ''Lions'', but they only won one trophy. In 1989, Mendes joined Sporting's rivals

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

, being sparingly used over three years – in between, he spent one season at

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

– winning the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

in his last one, where he teamed up with Futre. Released by Benfica, he appeared for three teams in as many years before joining the last of the Big Three,

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

, thus representing all the major clubs in his country as Futre. Mendes won his first

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

championship with the northern side in 1996–97 (the second overall), contributing 22 matches and three goals to the feat. In the following two campaigns, which ended in the same fashion, he was also regularly played. Aged nearly 33, Mendes left for another spell at Belenenses, then joined hometown's Vitória F.C. for his first season in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, which ended in promotion. After helping the '' Sadinos'' to retain their league status, he retired from professional football with top-division totals of 321 games and 12 goals.

International career

Mendes earned 11 full

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 ...

in one decade, but did not attend any major international tournament.

Honours

Sporting *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

: 1987 Benfica *

: 1990–91 *

: 1992–93 *

: 1989, 1992 Boavista *

: 1991–92 Porto *

: 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99 *

: 1997–98 *

: 1996, 1998; Runner-up 1997

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Fernando 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Setúbal Portuguese footballers Association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Sporting CP footballers S.L. Benfica footballers Boavista F.C. players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players C.F. Os Belenenses players FC Porto players Vitória F.C. players C.D. Montijo players Clube Olímpico do Montijo players Portugal youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers