Born in Belo Horizonte, Fred spent six years of his childhood at local club Atlético Mineiro, before joining Porto Alegre in 2009.

[11] During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Fred was among the six Shakhtar players who refused to return to Donetsk in July 2014 following a pre-season friendly against Olympique Lyonnais in France.

[3] On 5 June 2018, Premier League club Manchester United reached an agreement to sign Fred for a reported fee of £47 million.

[20] On 27 February 2020, Fred scored two goals and assisted another in United's UEFA Europa League round of 32 match against Club Brugge, which they won 5–0 and 6–1 on aggregate.

[21] On 2 February 2021, Fred played a full 90 minutes in Manchester United's Premier League record-equalling 9–0 home win against Southampton.

[29] On 23 February 2023, he scored the first goal for the Manchester United side in a 2–1 win against Barcelona in the second leg of the Europa League knockout round play-offs.

[32] On 13 August 2023, Turkish Süper Lig side Fenerbahçe announced the signing of Fred on a four-year contract for a fee of €9.74 million.

[42][43] Due to an injury to Luiz Gustavo, Fred was called up to Brazil's squad for the 2015 Copa América in Chile,[44] starting in their first two Group C matches as they reached the quarter-finals.

[47][48] In May 2018, he was named in Tite's final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,[49] but failed to make an appearance at the tournament.

[53] Shakhtar Donetsk were cleared by UEFA to select him at the start of the 2015–16 season, after a complaint by Fenerbahçe over his appearance in a Champions League third qualifying round game.

[57] In March 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the ban, believing it to be potentially lenient.

[58] In March 2017, after Fred had returned from the suspension, an agreement was reached with WADA before the CAS hearing that resulted in him being unable to play football until July 2017.