Ricardo Vaz Afonso Fernandes (born 28 August 2002) is a 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 plays 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 ...

for

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has host ...

. Born in Portugal, he plays for the São Tomé and Príncipe national team.

Professional career

Fernandes is a youth product of

Arrentela Arrentela is a former Freguesia (Portugal), civil parish in the municipality (''concelho'') of Seixal Municipality, Seixal, Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Seixal, Arrentela e Aldeia de Paio Pires ...

and Pescadores, before moving to

Casa Pia :''This article refers to the institution. For the child abuse scandal, see Casa Pia child sexual abuse scandal.'' The Casa Pia is a Portuguese institution founded by Maria I, known as ''A Pia'' ("Mary the Pious"), and organized by Police Intendan ...

's youth academy in 2018. On 20 May 2021, he signed his first professional contract with Casa Pia. In the winter of 2022, he was loaned to

Real Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

in the

Portuguese third division Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. He returned to Casa Pia for the 2022–23 season, as they were newly promoted to the

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, ...

. Later that summer, he transferred to

where he was assigned to their U23 side.

International career

Born in Portugal, Fernandes is of Santomean descent. He was called up to the São Tomé and Príncipe national team for a set of

2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches will be organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the 34th edition of the international men's football champi ...

matches in September 2023.

Personal life

Fernandes' twin brother,

Rogério Rogério ( �uˈʒɛɾiuor �oˈʒɛɾiu is a Portuguese male given name, and a variant of the first name Roger. It may refer to: * Rogério Fidélis Régis, or simply Rogério (1976), Brazilian footballer * Rogério Lourenço (1971), Brazilian f ...

, is also a professional footballer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Ricardo 2002 births Living people People from Seixal São Tomé and Príncipe men's footballers São Tomé and Príncipe men's international footballers Portuguese men's footballers Portuguese people of São Tomé and Príncipe descent Men's association football fullbacks Casa Pia A.C. players Real S.C. players G.D. Estoril Praia players Liga Portugal 2 players Liga 3 (Portugal) players Portuguese twins