Tiago Manuel Matos Fernandes (born 17 August 1981) is a Portuguese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player who played as a

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 ...

. After a lower-league playing career, he began coaching in 2009, leading

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

(interim) and Chaves in 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, ...

and

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 h ...

and

Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city i ...

in the second tier.

Playing career

Born in Montijo, Fernandes represented C.D. Montijo, F.C. Barreirense and A.D. Samouquense as a youth. He made his senior debut with

G.D. Alcochetense Grupo Desportivo Alcochetense is a Portuguese football club located in Alcochete, Portugal. Alcochetense was founded on 1 January 1937, by local football supporters. Colours and badge Alcochetense's colours are green and white, inspired by ...

in the 2000–01 season, in

Terceira Divisão The Terceira Divisão Portuguesa (in English: ''Portuguese Third Division'') was a football league in Portugal, situated at the fourth level of the Portuguese football league system. The Third Division was initially the third level of the Portugue ...

. Fernandes never played in any higher than Segunda Divisão B in his career, representing 1º de Maio F.C. Sarilhense, Atlético Clube Alcacerense, Alcochetense (three spells), Vitória F.C. B, C.D. Pinhalnovense,

Clube Olímpico do Montijo Clube Olímpico do Montijo is a Portuguese football club based in Montijo. Founded in 2007, it currently competes in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo da Liberdade'', with a 3,000 capacity. History Clube Olímpico do Mon ...

(two spells) and Juventude F.C. Sarilhense, where he retired in 2015 at the age of 34.

Coaching career

In 2008, Fernandes started working as a scout at

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. ...

. He then worked as an assistant of his father at Vitória de Setúbal before joining

's youth setup in 2011, initially as an assistant of the under-15s. In 2013, Fernandes was named manager of the Lions' under-14 squad. He was named in charge of the under-19s in 2015, before being named assistant of

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 sever ...

in the main squad in July 2018. On 2 November of that year, he was named interim manager after Peseiro was sacked. On his professional management debut two days later, Fernandes' side won 2–1 at

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

. He won his only other

game by the same score at home to

G.D. Chaves Grupo Desportivo de Chaves, commonly known as Chaves (), is a Portuguese association football, football football team, club from Chaves, Portugal, Chaves currently playing in the Primeira Liga. They were founded in 1949 and currently play at Está ...

on 11 November, with a goalless

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

draw at Arsenal inbetween. Fernandes returned to his assistant role after the appointment of

Marcel Keizer Marcel Keizer (born 15 January 1969) is a Dutch football coach and former player who is the manager of Emirati club Al Jazira. His playing career as a midfielder began at Ajax and was mainly spent at Cambuur, and he had brief spells managing bo ...

. On 10 December 2018, however, he was named manager of Chaves. After leaving Chaves on a mutual agreement on 9 March 2019, Fernandes took over G.D. Estoril Praia on 4 June. He was dismissed the following 7 January, after four consecutive defeats. On 3 July 2020, Fernandes was named at the helm of fellow second division side

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as Leixões (), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well kno ...

He left the club on 4 October, after five winless matches. He did not return to work until 7 June 2023, at

S.C.U. Torreense Sport Clube União Torreense is a Portuguese sports club, best known for its association football section, founded in Torres Vedras in 1917, as Sport União Torreense. History It participated six times in the Portuguese Liga (last in 1991–92 ...

's under-23 team.

Personal life

Fernandes' father Manuel Fernandes was also a footballer and manager.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Tiago 1981 births Living people People from Montijo, Portugal Footballers from Setúbal District Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Segunda Divisão players C.D. Pinhalnovense players Clube Olímpico do Montijo players Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Sporting CP managers G.D. Chaves managers G.D. Estoril Praia managers Leixões S.C. managers