Vincent Fernandez (born 31 January 1975) is a French 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 ...

who played as a

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 ...

. Born in

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. He was loaned to

LB Châteauroux La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (), commonly referred to as La Berrichonne or simply Châteauroux, is a Football in France, French association football club based in Châteauroux. The football team is a part of a sports club that consists of seve ...

to experience first-team football and when he returned to PSG, he became sub for

Bernard Lama Bernard Pascal Maurice Lama (born 7 April 1963) is a French football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He spent a large part of his career at Paris Saint-Germain. He was also a member of the France national team ...

, and then

Dominique Casagrande Dominique Casagrande (born 8 May 1971 in L'Union, Haute-Garonne) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Honours *Trophée des Champions: 1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. ...

. The 1997–98 season was one of his best, because even though he did not play much in the championship, he still won two cups, playing in both the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

final and the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

final against

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

and

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

respectively. In 1998

FC Sochaux FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

, who had recently reached

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

, offered him a place, which he took up and kept until

Teddy Richert Teddy Richert (born 21 September 1974) is a French goalkeeper coach, currently working for Montpellier, and former football goalkeeper. Richert spent the most of his career at Sochaux-Montbéliard and was considered to be one of the most consis ...

convinced him to play for

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

. He played there for two years, but did not manage to shine, so he moved to the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

side Châteauroux. He played for the club as starting goalkeeper for 8 years.

References

Sportspeople from Saint-Germain-en-Laye 1975 births Living people Association football goalkeepers French footballers France under-21 international footballers Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of France Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players LB Châteauroux players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Footballers from Yvelines {{France-footy-goalkeeper-stub