Alain Rochat (born 1 February 1983) is a retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender. Born in Canada, he represented Switzerland internationally.

Club career

Switzerland

Rochat was born in Canada but his family moved to Switzerland when he was two years old. He began his career at

Yverdon Sport FC Yverdon-Sport FC is a Swiss football team from the town of Yverdon-les-Bains. The club plays in a green and white strip, and were promoted from the Swiss 1. Liga Promotion, the third tier of Swiss football after winning in the 2020–21 season. ...

in 1999 before moving to

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

in 2002. His play with Young Boys led to a move to French side

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

in 2005. Seeing limited action with the French side, Rochat returned to Switzerland joining top side

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

in time for the 2006 campaign. Rochat was part of the FC Zürich side that won Swiss Super League championship titles during the 2006–07 and 2008–09 campaigns. Having become a prominent member of FC Zurich, he signed a new four-year contract with the club. In 2010, Rochat and FC Zürich reached the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, where they faced Spanish giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, Italian powerhouse

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

, and France's

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

in Group C.

Vancouver Whitecaps

He signed with USSF-D2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC during the 2010 season but was immediately loaned back to FC Zürich until 21 January 2011. He joined the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

upon his return. During the

2011 Major League Soccer season Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

, the Whitecaps finished last MLS, but during the 2012 season, Rochat switched from his usual left back position to a defensive midfield position and helped lead the team to more than 10 clean sheets.

D.C. United

Rochat was traded to

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...

on 7 June 2013 in exchange for a second-round pick in the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Januar ...

and a conditional pick in the

2016 MLS SuperDraft The 2016 MLS SuperDraft was the seventeenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2016 convention was held in Ba ...

. Rochat was reportedly unhappy with the trade since it disrupted his family life.

Return to Switzerland

After a month with D.C. United, Rochat was sold to one of his former clubs,

, for a fee of $500,000.

International career

Rochat appeared for Switzerland at the youth international level before making his senior international debut on 4 June 2005, as

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

claimed a 3–1 away victory over the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

in Group Four of European qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Honours

FC Zürich

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

: 2006–07, 2008–09

Notes

:A. Signed with

and then loaned-back to Zürich until January 2011.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochat, Alain 1983 births Living people People from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Canadian soccer players Swiss people of Canadian descent Canadian emigrants to Switzerland FC Zürich players BSC Young Boys players Yverdon-Sport FC players Men's association football defenders Swiss-French people Soccer people from Quebec Stade Rennais F.C. players Swiss expatriate footballers Swiss Super League players Ligue 1 players Major League Soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players D.C. United players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in France Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States