Gelson da Conceicao Tavares Fernandes is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for German club Eintracht Frankfurt. He also plays for the Switzerland national team.
Fernandes started his football career at FC Sion. On 23 July 2005, Fernandes made his professional league debut for Sion in a 2–1 loss against Lausanne. Fernandes also led his team win the Swiss Cup in a penalty shootout (5–3) against Young Boys in 2006. Fernandes signed for Manchester City from Sion on 14 July 2007 for an undisclosed fee. He made 59 appearances for City, scoring four times. In 2009, Fernandes signed for Saint-Etienne. Later, he was loaned to Chievo Verona, Leicester City and Udinese. On 4 July 2012, Fernandes signed a four-year contract with Sporting Clube de Portugal. In June 2013, he signed with Bundesliga side SC Freiburg on long-term contract. In early August 2014, it was announced that Fernandes would leave Freiburg despite still having contract until 2016. He signed a four-year contract until 2018 with French Stade Rennais. On 2 June 2017, Fernandes joined Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt on a two-year deal.
Fernandes was captain of the Switzerland U-21 that played against the England U-21 side in their Euro 2007 qualifying match. He made his first full international appearance for Switzerland against the Netherlands on 22 August 2007. He has since continued to be a regular for Switzerland. He also played in all three of the Swiss side's Euro 2008 fixtures. He scored his first 2010 World Cup goal for Switzerland against Spain on 16 June 2010, which Switzerland went on to win 1–0. After this, he was considered as a national hero in Switzerland. Unfortunately, Switzerland did not advance to the Round of 16 and Spain went on to win the World Cup. |
