Carlos Miguel Brandão Fernandes (born 5 May 1978) is a Portuguese retired

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, currently

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

União de Santarém União Desportiva de Santarém is a Portuguese Association football, football club based in Santarém, Portugal, Santarém in central Portugal. They play in the 3rd national division. The club was founded on 23 August 1969 and plays a ...

. 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 272 games and 13 goals over 15 seasons, mainly in representation of Farense and

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

(three years apiece). He started his professional career with

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,

Playing career

Fernandes was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. During his professional career, the unsuccessful product of

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,

's youth system represented, among other clubs,

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

and

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football, at the Estádio do Bessa. It is one of the oldest clubs ...

, having made his

debut with

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

in 1999. In mid-January 2006 he joined

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

, appearing in seven

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 ...

matches over the course of his two full seasons. In July 2008, Fernandes signed with

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 ...

, recently qualified for the UEFA Cup. He was released in late January 2009, moving in July to

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

which in turn had returned to the top division after 34 years. In the subsequent top-flight campaign, Fernandes was first-choice left-back and also scored twice. On 12 December 2009, he opened the score at home against

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

in an eventual 2–2 draw; Olhanense also managed to stay up, after finishing in 13th position.

Coaching career

Fernandes started his managerial career in March 2022, being appointed at fourth division club

SC Vianense Sport Clube Vianense, commonly known as Vianense, is a Portuguese football club based in Viana do Castelo in the district of Viana do Castelo. SC Vianense currently plays in the Liga 3. The club was founded in 1898 and is one of the oldest cl ...

. On 28 April 2023, he was dismissed. On 7 December 2023, Fernandes signed for

in the same league. He led his team to promotion to Liga 3 in his first season, taking the place of bankrupt

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Carlos 1978 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Lisbon Men's association football fullbacks Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players Sporting CP footballers S.C. Campomaiorense players S.C. Farense players C.F. Os Belenenses players Boavista F.C. players S.C. Braga players C.S. Marítimo players S.C. Olhanense players Associação Naval 1º de Maio players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portugal men's under-21 international footballers Portugal men's B international footballers Portuguese football managers União de Santarém managers