Gelson da Conceição Tavares Fernandes (born 2 September 1986) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

[19] He scored his first goal in a 2–0 victory against Newcastle United on 2 January 2008, after coming on as a substitute for Stephen Ireland and it took just 40 seconds for Fernandes and Kelvin Etuhu to combine for the former to finish from the edge of the box.

[20] It wasn't until on 2 February 2008 when he scored his second goal in the 1–3 loss to Arsenal at the City of Manchester Stadium when Vedran Ćorluka took advantage of a Gaël Clichy defensive error, who slipped in a pass into the six-yard box for Fernandes to tuck home.

[29] He made his league debut in the opening game of the season against Nice, starting a match and played 64 minutes before being substituted, in a 0–2 loss.

[32] His time at Saint Etienne had a difficult start and Fernandes moved little-by-little in the middle with some fighting and a good state of mind without being convincing.

[40] Despite facing suspensions on five occasions throughout the 2010–11 season, Fernandes went on to make thirty appearances and scoring two goals for Chievo in all competitions.

[49] Six days later on 4 January, it was announced that Fernandes's loan deal with Leicester City had been cancelled by mutual consent.

[52] Since making his debut for Udinese, he became a first team regular, starting in the next ten matches, playing in the midfield position.

[57] It was announced on 4 July 2012 he signed a four-year contract with Sporting Clube de Portugal, with a €25 million buy-out clause.

[63] Fernandes made his debut for the club, starting the match and played 81 minutes before being substituted, in a 3–0 win against SC Kriens on 3 February 2013.

[67] It was announced on 27 June 2013 that Fernandes signed with Bundesliga side SC Freiburg on long-term contract, with a fee of €400,000.

"[73] As the season progressed, Fernandes continued to remain in the starting eleven despite being placed on the substitute bench on five occasions.

[75] It was announced on 4 August 2014 that Fernandes signed a four-year contract until 2018 with French Stade Rennais, as Freiburg received a transfer fee believed to be €1.6 million, which still can be increased by additional performance-related payments.

[77] Fernandes made his Stade Rennais debut in the opening game of the season against Lyon, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute, in a 2–0 loss.

[84] After serving a one match suspension, Fernandes returned to the starting line–up against Lille on 19 September 2015, as Stade Rennais drew 2–2.

[88] Fernandes then captained the club for the first time in his career against FC Lorient on 24 October 2015 and helped the side draw 1–1.

[95] Following this, Fernandes continued to remain involved in the first team for the club despite finding himself placed on the substitute bench towards the end of the 2016–17 season.

[100] However, Fernandes tore his hamstring during a match against RB Leipzig on 23 September 2017 and was substituted in the 27th minute, as the club lost 2–1.

[104] In the semi–finals of the DFB–Pokal against Schalke 04, Fernandes was sent–off for a straight red card, having come on as a substitute three minutes before, as the club won 1–0 to advance to the next round.

In the opening game of the 2018–19 season against SC Freiburg, Fernandes was given the captaincy for the time in his Eintracht Frankfurt's career in the absence of David Abraham, as the club drew 1–1.

[111] In continuous absent of Abraham due to injury, Fernandes resumed as the captain of Eintracht Frankfurt between December and April.

In the 2019–20 season, Fernandes played in both legs of the UEFA Europa League play–off round against RC Strasbourg, as he helped Eintracht Frankfurt win 3–1 on aggregate to send them through to the Group Stage.

[121] Fernandes previously captained Eintracht Frankfurt earlier in the 2019–20 season, coming against Vitória de Guimarães on 3 October 2019.

[127] Fernandes was captain of the Switzerland U-21 that played against the England U21 side in their Euro 2007 qualifying match, becoming the first player with African roots to do so.

[130] Following the end of the tournament, Fernandes continued to be involved in both friendly and World Cup Qualification matches for the national side.

[136] The next four years saw manager Ottmar Hitzfeld continue to select Fernandes for the national team squad but he was barred in the midfield by Valon Behrami, Granit Xhaka and Blerim Džemaili.

[137] Fernandes played 22 minutes and helped Switzerland qualify for the World Cup after winning 2–1 against Albania on 11 October 2013.

[142] In May 2016, Manager Petković chose Fernandes in the 23-man squad for the finals in France ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament.

[147] Fernandes was included in the Switzerland national football team 23 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

In his role as director, his responsibility is to oversee the services to strengthen the growth and development of the African member associations through the FIFA Forward Programme.