Roberto Fernández Bonillo (born 5 July 1962), often known simply as Robert or Roberto, is a Spanish 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 mostly as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. From 1981 and during the next 14 years, he played with

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, going on to amass

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

totals of 439 matches and 95 goals over 15 seasons. He also had two spells at Villarreal, where he started his career. Roberto represented the Spain national team for nearly one decade, appearing at one World Cup and one European Championship.

Club career

Born in

Betxí Betxí ( es, Bechí) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Plana Baixa in the province of Castellón (Valencian Community), Spain. It is famous by its international Rock Music FestivaSant Antoni Pop Festival See also * List of municipalities i ...

, Province of Castellón, Fernández started playing professionally with CD Castellón in 1979 after emerging through the ranks of neighbours

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

. After two years, he moved to another club in the community, Valencia CF, proceeding to total 33

goals in his first four seasons but suffering relegation in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. Fernández signed for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in the summer of 1986. He scored ten times in 40 matches in his debut campaign,Qué fue de… Roberto Fernández, un centrocampista 100% mediterráneo (What happened to… Roberto Fernández, 100% Mediterranean midfielder)
20 minutos, 24 October 2013 (in Spanish) including a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in a 2–1 home win against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, which won that year's league ahead of the Catalans. After being an essential unit as ''Barça'' won two vice-championships, two

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

trophies and the

1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1988–89 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won for the third time by Barcelona in the final against Italian entrants Sampdoria. The two sides would meet again in the 1992 European Cup Final, which Barcelona also won. Wimbledon did n ...

, Fernández returned to Valencia in 1990. He helped the latter to two consecutive fourth-place finishes, and spent almost the entire 1993–94 on the sidelines due to injury. For the 1995–96 season, Fernández re-joined another familiar team, Villarreal who now competed in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. He scored once in 36 appearances in his

third year Third year, also known as S3, is the third year of schooling in Scottish secondary schools, and is roughly equivalent to Year 10 in England and Wales and Year 11 in Northern Ireland. Most pupils are 14 or 15 years old at the end of S3. Traditiona ...

to help them to achieve a first-ever promotion, being immediately relegated afterwards. He retired in 2001 at almost 39, after two seasons in the second tier with

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

. Subsequently, after more than 700 official games, Fernández moved into coaching, being in charge of lowly Valencia B, Orihuela CF and

UD Alzira Unión Deportiva Alzira is a Spanish football team based in Alzira, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1946 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' Estadio Luis Suñer Picó'', with a capacity of ...

in his native region. In the 2004–05 campaign he was one of four managers for Córdoba, who finished in 19th position and dropped down to

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

. Fernández returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2015, in directorial capacities. He left in June 2018 after his contract expired, being replaced by Eric Abidal who also played for the club.

International career

Fernández earned 29 caps and scored one goal for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in nine years, and was included in the squad for the

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

and the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

tournaments. His debut came during the former's

qualifying stage Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

, in a 1–0 home win over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

on 27 October 1982 in which he played the full 90 minutes.Roberto Fernández Bonillo – International Matches
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

International goals

Honours

Castellón *

: 1980–81 Barcelona *

: 1987–88, 1989–90 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1988–89 Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

¡¡¡Campeones!!! (Champions!!!)
Mundo Deportivo, 30 October 1986 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* *
CiberChe biography and stats
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Robert 1962 births Living people People from Plana Baixa Footballers from the Province of Castellón Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Villarreal CF players CD Castellón footballers Valencia CF players FC Barcelona players Córdoba CF players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Valencia CF Mestalla managers Córdoba CF managers FC Barcelona non-playing staff