Fabrice Fernandes spent three years at the
INF Clairefontaine academy, before moving to Rennes in 1996. He first joined an English team in 2000, after signing a season-long loan deal at
Fulham where he helped them get promoted to the
Premier League. He played for the
France national under-21 football team, impressing the likes of
Rangers in the process, for whom he joined on loan in March 2001, scoring on his debut for the club, from 20 yards out against
Motherwell. In December 2001, he moved to
Southampton, making his debut in a defeat against
Leeds United. Despite occasional injuries, he featured in many matches that season. He earned an FA Cup runners-up medal in 2003 and enjoyed a strong 2003–04 campaign, which concluded with the offer of a new contract running until 2006. However, after Southampton were relegated to the Championship under manager
Harry Redknapp at the end of the 2004–05 season, Fernandes negotiated for release from his contract. The Saints needed to reduce their payroll and engaged the services of agent
Willie McKay to find a new club for him. Allegedly, McKay was paid a fee of £30,000 by Southampton for his services. This transfer was amongst those being scrutinised by the
Stevens enquiry into corruption in English football.
Sam Allardyce snapped him up for free at the end of August 2005 and he made his debut for Bolton in their first ever UEFA Cup game against
Lokomotiv Plovdiv at the
Reebok Stadium. He appeared once in the league for Bolton, as a substitute in a 5–1 defeat to Chelsea. In February 2006 Fernandes moved to play in
Israel for
Beitar Jerusalem, the club owned by
Arcadi Gaydamak, the father of
Portsmouth owner
Alexandre Gaydamak. After leaving the Jerusalem club he has had trial spells with
Stoke City and
Dunfermline Athletic. In January 2007, he joined
Dinamo Bucharest (
Romania) in the
Romanian First League, but was released a year later. From there he joined
Le Havre before retiring from the game. ==Honours==