Carlos Wilson Cachicote da Rocha (born 5 January 1989), commonly known as Rudy, is an Angolan 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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or a forward for

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

Club career

Born in Oeiras,

Lisbon District Lisbon District ( pt, Distrito de Lisboa, ) is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the cur ...

, Rudy played lower league football until the age of 22, his first stop being with Sporting Clube Linda-a-Velha in the Lisbon regional championships. In 2011, he signed with

Cercle Brugge KSV Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisi ...

, scoring 13 goals in 33 matches in his first season to help his team to the seventh position in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

as well as the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

final playoff, lost to

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

; he found the net in only his second appearance, a 1–1 home draw against R.A.E.C. Mons. Rudy joined

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

from Spain in summer 2013, as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He returned to Portugal a few months afterwards, being loaned to former youth club C.F. Os Belenenses and making his Primeira Liga debut on 8 February 2014 in a 0–2 away loss to C.D. Nacional (65 minutes played). In August 2014, Rudy's Deportivo contract was cancelled by mutual consent and he moved to Greek side

Skoda Xanthi FC Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xa ...

. Late in the year, he returned to the land of his ancestors and joined C.R.D. Libolo. After a year in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

with

Doxa Katokopias FC Doxa Katokopias FC ( el, Δόξα Κατωκοπιάς) is a Cypriot football team from Katokopia in the Nicosia District. Since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Katokopia is under Turkish occupation, and the club moved to Peristerona, w ...

, Rudy joined C.F. União of Portugal's LigaPro on an 18-month deal on 5 January 2018. In July that year, he switched to

Waterford F.C. Waterford Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Phort Láirge) formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland First Division. The club was founded and elected to the ...

in the League of Ireland Premier Division, on an undisclosed contract.

International career

Rudy's mother was

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

n, and his father hailed from São Tomé and Príncipe. He chose to represent the former national team internationally, and accepted a callup for a pair of games in May 2014. In July 2014, Rudy was asked to switch his international allegiance to Angola. He made his international debut in a friendly with

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

on 3 August, playing the final 30 minutes in a 1–0 win at the

Estádio 11 de Novembro The Estádio 11 de Novembro is a multi-use stadium in Talatona (near Luanda), Angola. Completed in 2010 ahead of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, it hosted nine matches during the tournament, including five Group A matches, one Group B match, one ...

Personal life

His brothers Quevin Castro, Valter Rocha, and Aires are also footballers.

References

External links