Fabio Pereira da Silva (; born 9 July 1990), known as Fabio, is a Brazilian professional

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 plays as a full-back for Brazilian club Grêmio. Fabio and his twin brother

Rafael Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California * Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology * Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane Fiction * ''R ...

began their careers with Fluminense in their native Brazil before being signed by English club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in February 2007. Unlike his brother, Fabio struggled to hold down a place in the Manchester United first team, and after a loan spell with Queens Park Rangers in 2012–13, he made a permanent move to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

in January 2014. Fabio has played for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

twice at senior international level, with both appearances coming in 2011, the same year he played for Manchester United in the

UEFA Champions League Final The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...

against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and won the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

title.

Early life

Fabio was born in

Petrópolis Petrópolis (; ), also known as The Imperial City, is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. It is located in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro, northeast of the ci ...

, approximately one hour's drive from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Rio de Janeiro state Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...

, and began playing football from age five. He and his identical twin

would play five-a-side in the city. They were then spotted by a representative of Fluminense, who gave them the opportunity to play for the club; they went to live at the club's training centre at

Xerém Xerém () is a neighborhood of Xerém District in the municipality of Duque de Caxias in the state of Rio de Janeiro, about 50 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro. Xerém lies on the slopes of the Serra Fluminense, near Petrópolis. Within ...

when they were just 11 years old.

Club career

Fluminense

Fabio began his football career as a defensive midfielder with his local club, Boa Esperança, but he was converted to

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

when he joined Fluminense. With Fluminense, Fabio took part in the 2005 Nike Premier Cup in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, where he was spotted by

scout

Les Kershaw Les Kershaw is the former chief scout and Academy Director for Manchester United. Kershaw studied at Manchester Metropolitan University before being recruited by United manager Alex Ferguson. He had previously acted as a part-time scout for Ar ...

, who remarked that the twins reminded him of "two little whippets". Kershaw then telephoned Manchester United manager

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

and recommended that the club sign the Da Silva twins. Manchester United got in touch with Fluminense and asked permission for the twins to travel to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

to train with them in 2005. Shortly afterwards, a scout claiming to represent

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

visited the twins and asked them to come to England to train with Arsenal without the permission of Fluminense. However, they were dissuaded from this by their mother, who reminded them that they had been with Fluminense since they were 11, and that they should show the club some loyalty. Therefore, they decided to sign for Manchester United over Arsenal, and the two clubs agreed a deal in February 2007. The twins moved to Manchester in January 2008 without ever having played for the Fluminense first team.

Manchester United

Despite signing for the club in February 2007, Fabio was unable to be registered as a Manchester United player or play in matches for the club until his 18th birthday on 9 July 2008. He made his first appearance for Manchester United on 4 August 2008, coming on as a half-time substitute for Patrice Evra in a 2–0 friendly win away to Peterborough United. His performance in that game was praised, with ''Today'' claiming that "Manchester United finally found out what they were missing". He has since played in eight matches for the club's reserve team, scoring five goals – including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in the Lancashire Senior Cup on 16 March 2009 – and was named on the bench for United's second

match of the season against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on 25 August 2008. However, Fabio's competitive debut for the Manchester United first team was delayed by a shoulder injury, which required surgery. Fabio finally made his debut on 24 January 2009, in the 2–1

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

Fourth Round win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. However, he incurred an injury to his calf shortly into the second half and had to be replaced by fellow debutant Richard Eckersley. Fabio made his Premier League debut on 16 August, playing at right-back at home to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on the opening day of the 2009–10 season. He made his second start of the season at home to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in the third round of the League Cup, but was red-carded just short of the half-hour mark for a professional foul on

Michael Kightly Michael John Kightly (born 24 January 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. Kightly was rejected as a schoolboy by Tottenham Hotspur but worked his way back to League football with Southend United. He again ...

. On 21 October, Fabio was handed his

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 ...

debut in a 1–0 win over CSKA Moscow. He started the match but came off shortly before the end with an injury. Sir Alex Ferguson expressed his pleasure with Fabio's performance, especially with the match being played on an artificial surface. On 27 October, Fabio was booked for a foul committed by his twin brother Rafael in United's 2–0 League Cup victory over

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. Manchester United appealed and

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

("FA") agreed it was a case of mistaken identity, transferring the card to Rafael. On 1 April 2010, Fabio signed a contract extension with Manchester United that would tie him to the club until at least June 2014. Fabio scored his first goal for United on 26 February 2011, netting the final goal in a 4–0 away win over

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. Just two weeks later, he scored again, netting his first FA Cup goal and first at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, opening the scoring from close range in a 2–0 win over Arsenal. On 28 May 2011, Fabio started the UEFA Champions League Final against Barcelona; United lost the match 3–1. In April 2012, Sir Alex Ferguson announced that, in order to provide him with the first-team experience that Manchester United could not provide at the time, Fabio would go out on loan for the 2012–13 season.

Queens Park Rangers (loan)

On 2 July 2012, it was announced that Fabio had signed on loan for Queens Park Rangers for the 2012–13 season. His debut came at home to

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

on 18 August, and finished as a 5–0 defeat, during which he received a yellow card for a foul on

Nathan Dyer Nathan Antony Jonah Dyer (born 29 November 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his career at Swansea City, where he made over 300 appearances. He started playing as a teenager at Southamp ...

. Fabio scored his first goal for QPR against Milton Keynes Dons in an FA Cup match they went on to lose 4–2.

Cardiff City

After his return to Manchester United for the 2013–14 season, Fabio made just three appearances for the club, his final appearance coming in the shock FA Cup third round home defeat to Swansea City in January 2014. Fabio was sent on as a 76th-minute substitute for the injured

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and was ...

, but three-and-a-half minutes later received a straight red card for a reckless lunge on

José Cañas José Alberto Cañas Ruiz-Herrera (born 27 May 1987) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays for Greek club Ionikos F.C., Ionikos as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder. He started his career wi ...

with the scores level at 1–1. The ten men of United subsequently conceded a 90th-minute goal and were knocked out of the FA Cup at the third round stage for only the second time in 28 years. Later that month, Manchester United manager

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

accepted a bid for Fabio from

, and the transfer was completed on 29 January 2014 after Fabio passed a medical the previous weekend. He went on to make his debut in Ole Gunnar Solskjær's first win, against Norwich City, after which he became a regular in the side. However, Cardiff were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the season, meaning an instant return to the Championship. Fabio was a regular in the starting XI at the start of the following season, although Cardiff struggled under Solskjær, who was sacked and replaced by Russell Slade in October. Fabio was in-and-out of the starting lineup under Slade following the signing of fellow left-back

Scott Malone Scott Liam Malone (born 25 March 1991) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left back or Midfielder#Winger, left-sided midfielder for EFL Championship, Championshi ...

. That season, Cardiff suffered their worst finish in seven years, finishing 11th in the Championship. During the 2015–16 season, Fabio became a fan favourite in the Welsh capital following some impressive performances. He also scored his first goal in two years, a half-volley from 25 yards against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Fabio missed the opening game of the following season, after which Cardiff manager

Paul Trollope Paul Jonathan Trollope (born 3 June 1972) is a football coach and former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder. He is currently joint-assistant manager of Luton Town Born in England, he represents Wales internationally. As a playe ...

announced he was in talks with Middlesbrough over a move for Fabio after Middlesbrough activated his release cause.

Middlesbrough

On 12 August 2016, Fabio joined newly promoted Premier League side

on a two-year contract. He scored his first goal for Middlesbrough in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

tie against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

on 22 August 2017.

Nantes

On 18 July 2018, Fabio joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

on a three-year contract.

International career

Brazil under-17

Fabio has played internationally for the Brazilian national under-17 team, and was captain of the Brazil team for the

2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007, the twelfth edition of the tournament, was held in South Korea between 18 August and 9 September 2007. For this event, the number of teams had been expanded from 16 to 24, with the top two of each group and the four ...

, where he scored twice, making him the team's joint-highest scorer. Despite being a defender, he scored a total of 10 goals in his 13 appearances.

Brazil senior squad

In September 2011, after a spell of good form with Manchester United, Fabio was rewarded with a place in the Brazil senior squad for the matches against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on 7 and 11 October 2011 respectively.

Playing style

Along with his brother Rafael, Fabio has been praised for his energetic style, and has been described as an "excellent footballer" by his former manager at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson. Les Kershaw, the former Manchester United academy manager who spotted them, described the pair as being like "two little whippets", praising how "when they got knocked down, they just got straight back up again and got on with it. They were like bouncing balls... very, very quick". ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' has called them "Brazil's answer to the Neville brothers", in reference to defenders

Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...

and

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teammate ...

. Based on his attacking ability and instincts, it was suggested on the United website that Fabio, along with Rafael, could be deployed in the midfield rather than in defence.

Personal life

Fabio's twin brother Rafael is also a professional footballer. Both twins signed for Manchester United at the same time in 2008. The twins' elder brother, Luiz Henrique Pereira da Silva, used to play for América-MG in Brazil and

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

in Italy, but moved with his wife to England when the twins signed for Manchester United. After a six-week wait for international clearance, Luiz Henrique signed for

Radcliffe Borough Radcliffe Football Club (formerly Radcliffe Borough) is an English football club based in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester where they play their games at Stainton Park. The club was formed on 24 May 1949 and currently plays in the Northern Premier L ...

, but he and his wife returned to Brazil in early 2009 in preparation for the birth of their child, where he returned to England few months later. The wedding ring on Fabio's finger used to be how Sir Alex Ferguson could tell the twins apart, with Fabio already married at age 18 to 17-year-old Barbara, who relocated to England with him. Despite starting their careers at Fluminense, both Fabio and Rafael are actually supporters of Fluminense's local rivals

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

Career statistics

Honours

Manchester United *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

runner-up:

Nantes * Coupe de France: 2021–22 Grêmio * Campeonato Gaúcho:

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* Recopa Gaúcha:

Brazil U17 *

South American U-17 Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ) is a football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tournament for the newly created FIFA U-16 World Cup (now ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Notes

References

External links

Profile
on FC Nantes's official website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fabio 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Petrópolis Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent Men's association football fullbacks Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in France Manchester United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players FC Nantes players Grêmio FBPA players Premier League players Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (state) English Football League players Ligue 1 players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Wales Brazilian twins Brazil men's international footballers Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Brazil men's youth international footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Identical twins Pan American Games competitors for Brazil