Fernando Gomes

Fernando Gomes

Personal information
Full name	Fernando Mendes Soares Gomes
Date of birth	November 22, 1956 (1956-11-22)
Place of birth	Porto, Portugal
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1974–1980	Porto	158	(125)
1980–1982	Sporting Gijón	27	(12)
1982–1989	Porto	184	(163)
1989–1991	Sporting CP	63	(31)
Total		432	(331)
National team
1975–1988	Portugal	48	(13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Fernando Mendes Soares Gomes (born 22 November 1956 in Porto) is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a striker.

He achieved great success with Futebol Clube do Porto during the late 1970s and 80s. While technically only a good player, his talent resided on a fantastic position sense, which made him very dangerous inside the six-yard box.

The recipient of nearly 50 caps for Portugal, Gomes represented the nation in one World Cup and one European Championship.

Club career

Showing great ability since entering F.C. Porto's youth squads, Gomes scored twice in his first-team debut against CUF, in 1974. Except for a brief two-year stint with Sporting de Gijón, when most key players left the club in support of director of football - later president - Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, he was on all important moments of the rebirth of the club: the 20-year league draught end in 1978–79, the first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against Juventus F.C. in 1984 and, while he missed the 1987 European Cup final against FC Bayern Munich after breaking a leg days before, he scored five goals in the club's victorious campaign, including the important second goal against FC Dynamo Kyiv in the semifinals. He recovered still in time to play in the European Supercup against Ajax Amsterdam and the Intercontinental Cup against C.A. Peñarol, on both occasions captaining the victor, and being named Man of the match in the latter game.

In addition, Gomes also won five leagues, three Portuguese Cups and three domestic supercups. Due to personality clashes with the club's board, he left for Sporting Clube de Portugal, ending his career in 1990–91, still netting 22 league goals in his final season, and also helping the Lions to that year's UEFA Cup semifinals, aged 34.

Gomes retired with 318 career goals in 405 matches; his nickname, "Bi-bota", was given after the two European Golden Boot awards he received, in 1983 and 1985. He remained the best goalscorer in the national territory for more than two decades, only behind S.L. Benfica's Nené, and later returned to Porto, going on to work with the club in an ambassadorial role.

International career

For the national team, Gomes scored 13 times in 48 matches, from 9 March 1975 until 16 November 1988, his final appearance being against Luxembourg for the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, scoring the game's lone goal.

He represented the nation at both UEFA Euro 1984 and the 1986 World Cup, being one of the few players that did not defect the national team after the latter competition (following the infamous Saltillo Affair), and ending his international career two years later.

Fernando Gomes: International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	26 March 1980	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Scotland	3–1	4–1	Euro 1980 qualifying
2	10 October 1982	Estádio da Luz (1954), Lisbon, Portugal	Poland	2–0	2–1	Euro 1984 qualifying
3	12 September 1984	Råsunda Stadium, Stockholms län, Sweden	Sweden	0–1	0–1	1986 World Cup qualification
4	10 February 1985	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	0–2	1–3	1986 World Cup qualification
5	10 February 1985	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	1–3	1–3	1986 World Cup qualification
6	12 October 1985	Estádio da Luz (1954), Lisbon, Portugal	Malta	1–0	3–2	1986 World Cup qualification
7	12 October 1985	Estádio da Luz (1954), Lisbon, Portugal	Malta	3–2	3–2	1986 World Cup qualification
8	5 February 1986	Estádio Municipal de Portimão, Portimão, Portugal	Luxembourg	2–0	2–0	Friendly
9	19 February 1986	Estádio Primeiro de Maio, Braga, Portugal	East Germany	1–3	1–3	Friendly
10	23 September 1987	Råsunda Stadium, Stockholms län, Sweden	Sweden	0–1	0–1	Euro 1988 qualifying
11	16 November 1988	Estádio do Bessa, Porto, Portugal	Luxembourg	1–0	1–0	1990 World Cup qualification

Honours

Team

• European Cup: 1986–87
• UEFA Super Cup: 1987
• Intercontinental Cup: 1987
• Portuguese League: 1977–78, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88
• Portuguese Cup: 1976–77, 1983–84, 1987–88
• Portuguese Supercup: 1983, 1984, 1986
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Runner-up 1983–84

Individual

• European Golden Shoe: 1983, 1985
• Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 1983

Personal

• Gomes once quoted "Scoring a goal is like having an orgasm."
• Benfica striker Nuno Gomes, who played in the 90's/2000's, chose that nickname in deference to him.

External links

• Stats and profile at Zerozero
• Stats at ForaDeJogo (Portuguese)
• BDFutbol profile
• Fernando Gomes at National-Football-Teams.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Manuel Fernandes	Portugal national football team captain 1987–1988	Succeeded by João Pinto