Manuel José Tavares Fernandes (born 5 June 1951) is a Portuguese retired

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 striker, and a coach. One of the country's most prolific goalscorers, his playing career was mainly associated with Sporting, which he later also coached. At 386 goals in all official competitions, he is the second-highest goalscorer in the club's history. Over 19 seasons, in which he also represented two other clubs, Fernandes amassed

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, ...

totals of 485 matches and 241 goals. In December 2020, Sporting dedicated Gate 7 of the

Estádio José Alvalade Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade (1885–1918), the founder and first club mem ...

to Fernandes.

Club career

Player

Born in Sarilhos Pequenos,

Moita Moita () is a municipality in the district of Setúbal in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 66,029, in an area of 55.26 km2. The municipality is part of the Greater Lisbon Area, with a demographic rate of 1.194,9/km2 in 2011, growing from ...

Setúbal District The District of Setúbal ( pt, Distrito de Setúbal ) is a district located in the south-west of Portugal. It is named for its capital, the city of Setúbal. Geography It is delimited by Lisbon District and Santarém District on the north, Év ...

, Fernandes started his career with local Grupo Desportivo da CUF, scoring 38 goals in five years. In 1975 he got his first break, joining

(the only tier he competed in in a career which spanned almost two decades) club

Sporting Clube de Portugal 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 fo ...

, netting more than 250 times in official matches and only trailing legendary

Fernando Peyroteo Fernando Baptista de Seixas Peyroteo de Vasconcelos (10 March 1918 – 28 November 1978) was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He spent his entire professional career with Sporting CP, scoring 544 goals in all competitions, winn ...

who totalled over 500. In the 1985–86 season, at the ripe age of 34/35, Fernandes produced his best individual season, scoring 30 goals – and winning the '' Bola de Prata'' – for the eventual third-placed side, behind

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 ...

and

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 ...

. On 14 December 1986 he had arguably his finest moment as a professional, when he netted four to help to the 7–1 home demolition of Benfica. After that season in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Fernandes closed out his career with

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

– reuniting with former Sporting teammate

Rui Jordão Rui Manuel Trindade Jordão (; 9 August 1952 – 18 October 2019) was a Portuguese footballer. His professional career was spent mostly with two of the biggest clubs in the country, Benfica and Sporting CP. One of the most prolific strikers i ...

– adding a further 16 league goals to his tally and retiring at 37. During his last campaign he notably scored against Sporting in a 2–1 home win, mere minutes after kick-off, and the '' Sadinos'' finished in a comfortable seventh place.

Manager

Fernandes began his coaching career with Setúbal in 1988, and stayed with them a further year (several other spells there would befall in the future). Then, he went on to manage several teams: C.F. Estrela da Amadora, A.D. Ovarense, S.C. Campomaiorense, F.C. Tirsense,

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

, F.C. Penafiel and Atlético Sport Aviação – the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

club would be the first from the region to play in the Portuguese top level. With Sporting, Fernandes had already served as an assistant to England's

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

, leaving the ''

'' after the head coach was sacked. In 2001 he had a short managerial spell with the ''Lions'',

winning Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * '' Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Foot Pole, 2022 ...

the domestic Supercup before quitting his post later in the year. In October 2009, after a successful

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

from 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 ...

with

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

, and having already started the following top flight campaign, Fernandes bought out his contract and returned to struggling Setúbal for a third stint, which ended on 1 March 2011.

International career

Fernandes won 31

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 Ja ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, scoring seven goals. Even though he had that stellar campaign with Sporting in 1985–86, he was excluded from the squad for the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, which was marred by the

Saltillo Affair The Saltillo Affair ( pt, O Caso Saltilho) was a series of controversies surrounding the Portuguese national football team during its participation in the Mexico '86 FIFA World Cup. The affair was named after the Mexican city of Saltillo, Coah ...

Personal life

Fernandes' son Tiago was also a footballer and is a manager.

Honours

Player

Sporting *

Primeira Divisão 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, ...

: 1979–80, 1981–82 *

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 ...

: 1977–78, 1981–82 *

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 ...

: 1982, 1987 Individual * Primeira Divisão Top scorer: 1985–86

Manager

Sporting *

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Manuel 1951 births Living people People from Moita Portuguese footballers Association football forwards Primeira Liga players G.D. Fabril players Sporting CP footballers Vitória F.C. players Portugal under-21 international footballers Portugal international footballers Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Vitória F.C. managers C.F. Estrela da Amadora managers S.C. Campomaiorense managers C.D. Santa Clara managers Sporting CP managers F.C. Penafiel managers U.D. Leiria managers Portuguese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Angola Sportspeople from Setúbal District