Roberto Fernandes (born 2 November 1971) is an Indian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a defender. He appeared in 29 international matches for India national team. Fernandes spent his majority of career by playing for Goan club

Salgaocar FC Salgaocar Football Club (formerly Salgaocar Sporting Club) is an Indian professional football club based in Vasco, Goa. Being one of the country's most successful clubs, it is currently operating youth teams. Until the disfunction of its seni ...

. He has also played for other Goan clubs such as Churchill Brothers S.C. and

Vasco SC Clube de Desportos Vasco da Gama (simply known as both Vasco Sports Club, and Vasco SC) is an Indian professional football club based in Vasco da Gama, Goa, part of the same named multi-sports club. Incorporated in 1951, the club is nickname ...

. Fernandes has represented India in tournaments like

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games () and the XIII Asiad,, or simply Bangkok 1998 (), were an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and di ...

, and

Nehru Cup The Nehru Cup was an international football tournament organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), named after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. It was launched in 1982, but was not held from 1998 to 2006. After ...

. In 2000, he moved to

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

and played for

Belize Premier Football League The Belize Premier Football League (BPFL) (Caribbean Motors Cup) was the premier division of association football in Belize sanctioned by the Football Federation of Belize. The league disbanded in 2011 after the merger with the Super League of ...

side San Pedro Seahawks until 2001.

Club career

Early years

Fernandes began his professional club career in 1991, at Salcete FC, that participated in the Goa First Division. He later moved to Goan giants

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers Futebol Clube de Goa (simply known as Churchill Brothers) is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, alongside the Goa Professional League (reserves). Founded in 1 ...

and

Salgaocar Salgaocar Football Club (formerly Salgaocar Sporting Club) is an Indian professional football club based in Vasco, Goa. Being one of the country's most successful clubs, it is currently operating youth teams. Until the disfunction of its seni ...

, with whom he spent most of his times.

Churchill Brothers

On 1 July 1993, he signed with

and appeared in the

Goa Professional League The Goa Football League is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of Goa, organised by the Goa Football Association as part of the state leagues. It was formed in 1951 as the Goa Primeira Divisão or Goa First Division, and ...

Salgaocar

In July 1995, he moved to

and played under managers like Shabbir Ali, Leopold Fernandez.

Clubs in Mexico

On 1 July 1997, Fernandes moved abroad and signed with Mexican Primera División club

Atlético Morelia Club Atlético Morelia is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Morelia, Michoacán de Ocampo, Michoacán, that competes in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football. The club plays their ...

. He later joined

C.F. Monterrey Club de Fútbol Monterrey Rayados, A.C., simply known as Monterrey or by its nickname Rayados, is a Mexican professional association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León, that plays in Liga MX, the top d ...

in January 1998.

Back in Salgaocar

After rejoining Salgaocar, Fernandes was part of the team that emerged as one of the strongest sides in India as they clinched 1998–99 National Football League, 1997 Indian Federation Cup, 1998 and 1999 editions of

Indian Super Cup Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

San Pedro Seahawks

In 2000, he again moved abroad and appeared with the

side San Pedro Seahawks, on loan transfer from Salgaocar.

Back again in Salgaocar

After spending a season with Seahawks, Fernandes rejoined Salgaocar and played until 2006. As veteran defender for Salgaocar, was part of club's runners-up finish in the 2002–03 edition of

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

International career

Fernandes debuted for India national team on 21 September 1996 against

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in a

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation, AFC (Asia), Confederation of African Football, CAF (Afr ...

match, that ended as 2–0 win for them. He later appeared in SAFF Gold Cup and helped the team winning trophies in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. He was also in the national squad and played in

2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification 2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification was the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup. Groups Group 1 ''All matches were held in Dushanbe, Taj ...

matches but did not move on to final round. Due to his brilliant performances as overlapping right back, Fernandes was included in the squad of

Syed Nayeemuddin Syed Nayeemuddin (born 1944), known as Nayeem, is an Indian football coach and former player. He played for and captained the India national team.

managed national team that participated in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

. Their journey ended after finishing bottom of the second round. In July 2000, Fernandes was included in

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He sang " Jai Ho" in the film '' Slumdog Millionaire'', for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Televisi ...

managed India national squad for their historic England-tour, where they played three matches against

English 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 ...

sides

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, and arch-rival

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. With India, he appeared in the 2002 World Cup Qualifiers, where they defeated teams like United Arab Emirates, Brunei and Yemen. India secured 11 points from 6 matches, same as Yemen, but finished behind them due to an inferior goal difference. In that year, Fernandes was part of

Bhaichung Bhutia Bhaichung Bhutia (born 15 December 1976), also spelled as Baichung Bhutia, is an Indian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Bhutia is considered as the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He is often ...

led Indian team that lifted the LG Cup, in which they defeated host nation

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

3–2. In August 2002, he was called up to the national squad for

2003 Afro-Asian Games The 2003 Afro-Asian Games, officially known as the First Afro-Asian Games or I Afro-Asian Games and unofficially known as the Inaugural Afro-Asian Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Hyderabad, India, from 24 October (ex ...

, and appeared in the tournament, in which India finished as runners-up behind Uzbekistan.

Managerial career

After retiring, Fernandes went on to became football manager and succeeded Norbert Gonsales as head coach of NFL side Vasco in midway of the league season in 2007.

Honours

Salgaocar *

: 1998–99 *

: 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004 * Federation Cup: 1997 *

: 1998, 1999 India * SAFF Gold Cup:

; third place:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

Bronze medal:

* LG Cup: 2002 Goa *

Santosh Trophy The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, or simply Santosh Trophy, is an inter-state national football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), th ...

runner-up: 1998–99

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Roberto Indian men's footballers India men's international footballers Men's association football defenders 1971 births Living people Footballers from Goa Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for India Indian expatriate men's footballers Indian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Indian expatriate sportspeople in Belize Expatriate men's footballers in Belize South Asian Games medalists in football South Asian Games bronze medalists for India