Diogo Fernandes

Born in early 2005 in the capital of Minho, Diogo Fernandes began playing football close to home before moving to SC Braga in 2014. Four years later, in 2018, he left the city of the Archbishops for Porto. Since joining Dragon Force, the promising 1.85-metre goalkeeper has enjoyed a meteoric rise at the club and in the national team, following in the footsteps of his teammate and namesake Costa. In 2023/24, he had a dream season: he started the campaign defending the junior team's goal in the under-19 championship and provided an assist for a goal in the home match against Lusitânia de Lourosa; he took over in goal in the Youth League, helped the team finish the group stage as the best of the 32 in the competition, saved two penalties in the Round of 16 tiebreaker in Alkmaar against European champions AZ, and contributed to qualifying for the Final Four; he made his debut for the Portuguese U19 national team and immediately saved a penalty against his Italian counterpart; in February 2024, he played his first minutes between the posts for the “B” team against Leixões. The contract renewal until 2028 was “a source of pride”, the objective is to “grow more and more every day” and there is only one goal: “My main dream is to make my debut at Estádio do Dragão and I will do everything to make that happen as soon as possible”.