Bruno Fernandes
Active- Current or last club
- Manchester United
- Country (nationality)
- Portugal
- League or competition
- Premier League
- Position
- Attacking midfielder
- How is the religion known?
- Reported by reputable media
- Last checked
- 9 October 2026
We list a player’s religion only where they have spoken about it publicly or it has been reliably reported, and we link our sources. If something is wrong, or a player’s views have changed, please tell us and we will review it.
Table of Contents
What religion is Bruno Fernandes?
Bruno Fernandes is a Portuguese professional footballer who is a devout Christian, specifically a Roman Catholic, though he has noted that he is not overly devout. Born and raised in Maia, Portugal, he grew up immersed in the country’s predominantly Catholic culture, which remains a permanent fixture of his personal background.
Fernandes frequently demonstrates his personal beliefs during matches, where he can routinely be observed making the sign of the cross and looking upward in prayer before entering the field or following key moments in a game. He has publicly shared that these rituals are tied to a deeply held sense of gratitude and a habit of thanking God, values that were instilled in him by his mother from a young age.
Bruno Fernandes plays as an attacking midfielder and captains both Manchester United and, at various points, the Portugal national team. He came through the Boavista academy in his native Porto before moving to Italy as a teenager, playing for Novara, Udinese, and Sampdoria, before a breakout spell at Sporting CP led to his transfer to Manchester United in January 2020. He has won the FA Cup and EFL Cup with United and the UEFA Nations League twice with Portugal.
Early life
Fernandes was born on 8 September 1994 in Maia, in the Porto metropolitan area of Portugal, to parents Jose and Virginia Borges Fernandes. Fernandes has an older brother, Ricardo, who also plays football, and the two often played together on the streets growing up. His father later moved to Switzerland for work, but Fernandes chose to stay in Portugal to continue pursuing his football career.
He began playing youth football at age seven with local club FC Infesta before Porto’s academy showed interest in him around age nine. He instead chose to join local rivals Boavista, partly because the club offered transport to and from training. He started out as a center-back at Boavista before a loan to Pasteleira at age 15 saw him converted into an attacking midfielder. He returned to Boavista and continued developing there until a scout from Italian club Novara spotted him during an Under-19 match in 2012.
Club career
Fernandes joined Novara in Italy’s Serie B in August 2012, at age 17, for a fee reported at just over €40,000. He was quickly promoted to the first team and became a regular during the 2012-13 season, helping the club finish fifth and reach the promotion play-offs. Following his debut season in Italy, Fernandes moved to Serie A side Udinese in 2013, where he spent three seasons. He made 95 appearances and scored 11 goals for the club and represented Portugal’s Under-23 side at the 2016 Rio Olympics while playing there.
In August 2016, Fernandes joined Sampdoria on loan with an obligation to buy, with the move becoming permanent in 2017. His time at the Genoa-based club was brief before he secured a return to Portugal.
Sporting CP
Sporting CP signed Fernandes in the summer of 2017. He quickly became one of the most productive midfielders in Europe, and in July 2018 he signed a new five-year contract with the club that included a €100 million release clause. In the 2018-19 season, he became the first midfielder in Sporting’s history to score more than 30 goals across all competitions in a single season, finishing with 33 goals in all competitions and establishing himself as the highest-scoring midfielder in Europe that season. He won the Taça de Portugal and two editions of the Taça da Liga during his time at the club and was named the Primeira Liga’s best player in consecutive seasons.
Manchester United
Manchester United signed Fernandes from Sporting CP in January 2020 for an initial fee of €55 million. He made an immediate impact, and in the 2020-21 season he scored 28 goals in all competitions, surpassing a record previously held by Frank Lampard to become the highest-scoring midfielder in Premier League history for a single season.
Fernandes was made club captain and led the team to FA Cup success in the 2023-24 season, assisting the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Manchester City in the final, his second trophy with the club and first as captain.
He had earlier also helped United win the EFL Cup in the 2022-23 season and reached the UEFA Europa League finals with the club in both 2021 and 2025, losing both, the 2025 final ending in a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur despite Fernandes finishing as the competition’s top scorer that season. That same season saw United finish 15th in the Premier League, their worst domestic league finish since the 1973-74 season.
In August 2024, Fernandes signed a new contract with United running to June 2027, with an option to extend to 2028. By early 2026, he had surpassed 250 appearances for the club and been directly involved in more than 200 goals, with 107 goals and 108 assists recorded since his arrival. Additionally, he has been named the club’s Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year on multiple occasions.
International career
Fernandes progressed through Portugal’s youth national teams, representing the Under-19 to Under-23 sides, including at the 2016 Rio Olympics, before making his senior debut in November 2017. He has gone on to represent Portugal at the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, as well as UEFA Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, and helped Portugal win the UEFA Nations League in both 2019 and 2025.
Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Fernandes scored a hat-trick against Armenia in Portugal’s final qualifying match, a 9-1 win that secured the team’s place at the tournament. By that point in his international career, he had scored 29 goals in 94 appearances for Portugal, and he went on to represent the national team at the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Awards and honors
At club level, Fernandes won the Taça de Portugal with Sporting CP in the 2018-19 season, along with two editions of the Taça da Liga. Since joining Manchester United, he has added the EFL Cup, won in the 2022-23 season, and the FA Cup, won in 2023-24, to his honors list.
With Portugal, he has won the UEFA Nations League twice, first in 2019 and again in 2025.
Individually, Fernandes has been named Manchester United’s Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year on five occasions, an unprecedented tally for the award, spanning the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2024-25 seasons, among others. He has also won the club’s Players’ Player of the Year award. In the 2020-21 Premier League season, he set a new record for the most goals scored by a midfielder in a single Premier League campaign, with 28 goals in all competitions that year. He has won the Premier League Player of the Month award on six occasions. In the 2025-26 season, he broke the Premier League’s all-time single-season assists record and was named the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year.
Personal life
Fernandes married his childhood partner, Ana Pinho, in 2015, and the couple has two children together.
In June 2025, Fernandes turned down a contract offer worth €100 million from Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal and chose to remain at Manchester United. In addition to his native Portuguese, Fernandes is fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian along with some French.
Away from football, on January 11, 2026, Fernandes’s X account was briefly hacked before being secured.
