Ricardo Ribeiro Fernandes (born 21 April 1978) 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 le ...

who played 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 ...

. He 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 72 matches and eight goals during four seasons, representing in the competition Gil Vicente, Sporting,

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and Académica. He also competed professionally in Cyprus, Ukraine, Israel and Greece, notably spending several years in the Cypriot First Division with five clubs and winning the national championship with

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Club career

Sporting / Porto

Fernandes was born in

Moreira de Cónegos Moreira de Cónegos is a Portuguese ''freguesia'' ("civil parish") and town in the municipality of Guimarães which is in the Braga District in northern Portugal. The population in 2021 was 4,652, in an area of 4.72 km². Sports The town is ...

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

. After a number of impressive performances for

Gil Vicente FC Gil Vicente Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Gil Vicente, founded in 1924, is a Portuguese football club that plays in Barcelos. It competes in the Primeira Liga, the top division of football in the country, and it is named after the Portugues ...

, with whom he made his

debuts in the 2001–02 campaign, he returned to Sporting CP who owned the player's rights; at the time, he was hailed as one of the country's brightest young prospects. After only one season, Fernandes was signed by

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

for his

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 ...

side, which

won Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

the 2003–04 edition of the

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 ...

. He appeared sparingly for the club during his spell due to injury, playing only 19 games in all competitions as he was understudy to Portuguese international Deco, and left after another sole campaign.

APOEL

After a spell with Académica de Coimbra, Fernandes was signed on a lucrative three-year deal to APOEL FC in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. In his first year, he became an instant crowd favorite with his accurate

set pieces "Set Pieces" is the first EP release by Canadian indie band Braids. The EP was released in 2008 under the band's original name, The Neighbourhood Council. Recording The EP was recorded at CJSW in Calgary, Canada Calgary ( ) is the larges ...

and creative passing, scoring nine times with a remarkable number of assists and also helping his team to the

domestic cup A domestic cup (also known as association cup or national cup) is a type of sports tournament, particularly common in association football. This tournament type is notable for its participation by professional and amateur teams from many levels of ...

. In his second season, Fernandes netted five

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

goals as APOEL were crowned national champions.

Later years

Fernandes returned to Cyprus on 17 June 2009, signing a three-year contract with Anorthosis Famagusta FC. On 30 December, 19 days after being released, he joined another team in that country, AEL Limassol. On 4 June 2010, 32-year-old Fernandes signed a contract with

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's Hapoel Be'er Sheva AFC, reuniting with former AEL coach

Nir Klinger Nir Klinger ( he, ניר קלינגר; born 25 May 1966) is an Israeli football coach and former player. During the 1990s, Klinger served as Captain for Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israel national football team. He was the coach of Maccabi Tel ...

. In January 2011, however, he returned to former

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

club

FC Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Доне́цьк, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football ...

Club statistics

Honours

Freamunde * Segunda Divisão B: 1998–99 * Terceira Divisão: 1997–98 Santa Clara * Segunda Liga: 2000–01 Sporting * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Porto *

: 2003–04 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

: 2003–04 * Taça de Portugal: Runner-up 2003–04 APOEL * Cypriot First Division: 2006–07 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2005–06

References

External links

*
Football-Lineups profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Ricardo 1978 births Living people Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players C.D. Aves players Moreirense F.C. players S.C. Freamunde players Sporting CP footballers C.D. Santa Clara players Gil Vicente F.C. players Sporting CP B players FC Porto players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players C.D. Trofense players F.C. Felgueiras 1932 players Cypriot First Division players APOEL FC players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players AEL Limassol players Doxa Katokopias FC players AC Omonia players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Metalurh Donetsk players Israeli Premier League players Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. players Super League Greece players Panetolikos F.C. players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Israel Expatriate footballers in Greece Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Israel Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Greece Sportspeople from Guimarães