Ricardo Manuel da Silva Fernandes (born 14 January 1978) is a Portuguese 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 as a

central defender 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

Fernandes was born in Azurém,

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 making his

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, ...

debut with lowly

S.C. Salgueiros Sport Comércio e Salgueiros (), commonly known as simply Salgueiros, is a Portuguese multi-sports club from the city of Porto, in the northern region of the country. Founded on 8 December 1911, in the parish of Paranhos, it is mostly known f ...

, which folded soon after, he moved to

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

, playing there for a further two top flight seasons. For 2005–06 he joined

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

, being an undisputed starter from the beginning and helping it achieve a fifth place (with the subsequent qualification to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

) in his first year. Fernandes signed for

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivița workshops as ''Asoc ...

in July 2008, alongside compatriot

José Peseiro José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro (born 4 April 1960) is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the manager of the Nigeria national team. After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach several ...

whom arrived as manager. In the 2010–11 campaign he lost his starting position with the

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

club and, in January 2011, aged 33, returned to his country and joined Rio Ave FC. In June 2011, after no official appearances for the Vila do Conde team, Fernandes signed with former club Moreirense 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 ...

. He only missed four league games in his first season, as the

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 ...

side returned to the top level after seven years.

International career

Fernandes won one cap for Portugal B, playing the first half of a 0–1 defeat to

for the Vale do Tejo Tournament held in Santarém, on 25 January 2001.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Ricardo 1978 births Living people Footballers from Guimarães Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players AD Fafe players S.C. Salgueiros players Moreirense F.C. players C.D. Nacional players FC Rapid București players Rio Ave F.C. players Pevidém S.C. players Liga I players Portugal men's B international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Romania