Bruno Marcelo Pereira Fernandes (born 30 June 1974), known simply as Bruno, 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 lea ...

who played as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. In a 24-year senior career, he played for two clubs in his native region, Marítimo and

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, also representing

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

albeit with no success. He amassed

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

totals of 283 games and 21 goals.

Club career

A graduate of local

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

's youth academy, Bruno was born in

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

, and he made his debut with the first team in 1993 at the age of 19, but was soon loaned to

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

neighbours

A.D. Camacha Associação Desportiva da Camacha, known as A.D. Camacha, is a Portuguese football club from Santa Cruz, Madeira. Founded in 1978, they play in the Campeonato de Portugal (league), Campeonato de Portugal. They play their home games in Campo Muni ...

. In the following seasons he worked his way into his hometown club's starting XI, and soon became a fan favourite in the role of

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

; his goal against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

in the

2001–02 UEFA Cup The 2001–02 UEFA Cup was won by Feyenoord at their home ground in the final against Borussia Dortmund. It was the second time they won the competition. Liverpool could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2001–02 ...

, a thundering 45-yard

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

, enabled for a 1–0 victory against the English (who eventually won 3–1 on aggregate). Subsequently, many top European clubs became interested in Bruno, as he earned a trial with

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

which eventually fell through, and he stayed in Portugal, joining

side

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

on a three-year contract in April 2002. However, the dream move proved to be a nightmare and he was loaned out to Marítimo during the second part of the season and to Moreirense F.C. for the entire following campaign, before signing for Marítimo neighbours

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, 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 , P ...

in 2004–05. After three seasons – in his first, he scored in a 4–2 away win over

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

on 22 May 2005– which included two more

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

participations that brought first-round exits against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

and

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest, that competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivi� ...

, Bruno re-signed for a third spell with boyhood club Marítimo, on a free transfer. After having contributed 18 matches and two goals to a sixth-place finish in 2009–10, thus returning to the Europa League, the 36-year-old retired. In the 2011 off-season, after one year out of football, Bruno returned to active with another side in Madeira,

C.F. União Clube de Futebol União, commonly known as União da Madeira, was a Portuguese association football, football club based in Funchal, Madeira, notable for its six season in the Portuguese top-flight Primeira Liga, between the 1989–90 Primeira D ...

. He only missed seven league matches during the season, as the team finally retained their Segunda Liga status.

Honours

Porto *

: 2002–03 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2002–03 *

: 2002–03

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruno Fernandes 1974 births Living people 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Funchal Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players C.S. Marítimo players FC Porto players Moreirense F.C. players C.D. Nacional players C.F. União players UEFA Europa League–winning players