Roberto Eladio Fernández Roa, also known as Gato Fernández, (born 9 July 1954) is a retired football

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

from

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. He was

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

ped 78 times for the

Paraguay national football team The Paraguay national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Paraguay) represents Paraguay in men's international Association football, football competitions, and are controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association (Asociación Paraguaya ...

in an international career that lasted from 1976 to 1989. He was also a member of the Paraguayan team that won the 1979 Copa América.rsssf: Copa América 1979
/ref> He earned the nickname "El Gato" (The Cat) for his outstanding stretching saves.

Club career

Fernández began his career, debuting professionally, at the age of 17 for Club River Plate of Paraguay. Some of his clubs include

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Primera División titles and is one of the most popular football clubs in Paraguay. Its presi ...

, Deportivo Cali,

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

and

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

. He made his international debut for the

on 10 March 1976 in a Copa del Atlántico match against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

(2–2). Fernández played his final professional game in 1997 (Cerro Porteño vs. Sportivo Luqueño) at the age of 43, making him the oldest goalkeeper to play professionally in Paraguayan football history.

International career

During the late 1970s to the mid to late 1980s, his only challenger in goal for the Paraguay national team was

Ever Hugo Almeida Ever Hugo Almeida Almada (born 1 July 1948) is a Paraguayan football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the current manager of Ecuadorian club El Nacional. Almeida was born in Salto, Uruguay, but became a naturalized ...

. Finally, in the late 1980s, Fernández became the back-up to Jose Luis Chilavert. During the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Fernández started for Paraguay in all four games. He stopped a penalty kick from Mexican

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican ...

to hold the host team to a 1–1 draw.

Retirement

After retiring, Fernández dedicated himself to working as a board of director at his original club (River Plate of Paraguay), and representing other footballers. His son,

Gatito Fernández Roberto Júnior "Gatito" Fernández Torres (born 29 March 1988) is a Paraguayan footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Botafogo. He is known as ''Gatito'' ( en, little cat) for being the son of former P ...

, is a professional goalkeeper, currently in the registry of Botafogo in Brazil.

Honours

Club

Cerro Porteño * Primera División:

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, 1996 *Torneo República: 1991 Internacional *

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

: 1991, 1992 *

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de P ...

: 1992 Palmeiras * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

* Campeonato Paulista: 1994

International

Paraguay * Copa América:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

References

External links

International statistics
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 th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Roberto 1956 births Living people Footballers from Asunción Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Cerro Porteño players Deportivo Cali footballers Sport Club Internacional players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Club River Plate (Asunción) footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Paraguayan Primera División players La Liga players Categoría Primera A players Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Copa América-winning players 1979 Copa América players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Paraguayan people of Italian descent Paraguayan people of Spanish descent