Fernando de Moraes


Fernando Jorge Lima de Moraes, commonly referred to as Fernando, is a Brazilian-Australian retired footballer who last played for South Melbourne in the Victorian Premier League. He is also a member of the Australia national futsal team.

Career

Fernando initially specialised in futsal while playing in Brazil, and played his first match in the outdoor version of the game at the age of 21. He first played for PSB Palestra São Bernado in Brazil before moving to Australia to play for South Melbourne FC, having seen them play at the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship. He joined the team for the 2005 Victorian Premier League season. In 2006, he left the club to undertake an unsuccessful 4-week trial at Greek Super League club Egaleo FC, after which he returned to Australia and played a vital role in securing the championship for South Melbourne as their highest scoring player. He was signed by A-League club New Zealand Knights FC shortly after the championship victory on a short-term contract, for a fee of £90,000, that was extended several times, but did not feature in the Knights' line-up and was soon relegated to the bench. He returned to South Melbourne at the conclusion of the Knights' season and joined the squad for pre-season matches, eventually signing a new 2-year contract.
One of his most important goals for South Melbourne came during the 2010 Singapore Cup when his goal put South Melbourne 2-1 up against Thai Premier League champions Bangkok Glass, however it would not be enough, as Bangkok would ultimately tie 3-3 allowing them to go through on aggregate, knocking out South Melbourne in the process.
In January 2014, de Moraes officially retired from playing football.

Honours

With South Melbourne:
Individual
With North Melbourne Futsal Club:
With Vic Vipers Futsal Club: