Fabrice Fernandes (born 29 October 1979) is a French former

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 for several clubs, most particularly

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Playing career

Fabrice Fernandes spent three years at the

INF Clairefontaine The INF Clairefontaine (), known as INF or simply Clairefontaine, is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players. The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine. The academy is one of sixtee ...

academy, before moving to Rennes in 1996. He first joined an English team in 2000, after signing a season-long loan deal at

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 ...

where he helped them get promoted to the

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 ...

. He played for the

France national under-21 football team The France national under-21 football team (), known in France as ''Les Espoirs'' (, ''The Hopes''), is the national under-21 Association football, football team of France and is controlled by the French Football Federation. The team competes in ...

, impressing the likes of

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

in the process, for whom he joined on loan in March 2001, scoring on his debut for the club, from 20 yards out against

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. In December 2001, he moved to

, making his debut in a defeat to

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 ...

, and played in many games during the season, despite sometimes being hit with injury. He picked up an FA Cup runners-up medal in season 2002–03, and had a solid 2003–04, at the end of which he was offered a new contract to run to 2006. However, after Southampton were relegated to the Championship under manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, Portsmouth F.C., ...

at the end of the 2004–05 season, Fernandes negotiated for release from his contract. The Saints needed to reduce their payroll and engaged the services of agent

Willie McKay Willie McKay is a Scottish football agent, based in Monaco, known for representing a number of high-profile footballers, particularly in the Premier League and Ligue 1. His clients have included James McFadden, Joey Barton Joseph Anthony ...

to find a new club for him. Allegedly, McKay was paid a fee of £30,000 by Southampton for his services. This transfer was amongst those being scrutinised by the

Stevens enquiry The Stevens Inquiries were three official Her Majesty's Government, British government Inquiry, inquiries led by John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, Sir John Stevens concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilita ...

into corruption in English football.

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

snapped him up for free at the end of August 2005 and he made his debut for Bolton in their first ever UEFA Cup game against

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

at the

Reebok Stadium The Toughsheet Community Stadium is a Association football, football stadium in Horwich near Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers Football Club, with an all-seated capacity of 28, ...

. He appeared once in the league for Bolton, as a substitute in a 5–1 defeat to Chelsea. In February 2006 Fernandes moved to play in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

for

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tier in Israeli football ...

, the club owned by

Arcadi Gaydamak Arcadi Aleksandrovich Gaydamak (; ; born 8 April 1952 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-born French-Israeli businessman, philanthropist, and President of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia (KEROOR). In the 1990 ...

, the father of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

owner

Alexandre Gaydamak Alexandre "Sacha" Gaydamak (; born May 1976 in France) is a French and Israeli businessman. A member of the wealthy Gaydamak family, he is the only son of Arcadi Gaydamak. In January 2006 he announced that he was following his father into asso ...

. After leaving the Jerusalem club he has had trial spells with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

and

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

. In January 2007, he joined

Dinamo Bucharest A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinb ...

(

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

) in the

Romanian First League Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

, but was released a year later. From there he joined

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

Honours

Fulham *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

champions: 2000–01 Beitar Jerusalem *

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

champions: 2006–07 Southampton *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runners-up:

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 ...

Dinamo Bucuresti *

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

champions: 2006–07 *

Romanian Supercup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

runners-up:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Fabrice 1979 births Living people French sportspeople of Portuguese descent French men's footballers INF Clairefontaine players Stade Rennais FC players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Olympique de Marseille players Rangers F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Israel FC Dinamo București players Le Havre AC players French expatriate sportspeople in Israel Premier League players Ligue 1 players Scottish Premier League players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Liga I players Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in England Men's association football wingers