Fábio Rochemback (born 10 December 1981) is a Brazilian former 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, rugb ...

who played as a

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 ...

. At different ends of his career, he represented both ''

Grenal "Grenal" is the nickname for matches between two of Brazil's leading football clubs, both located in the city of Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul: Gre refers to Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense and Nal refers to Sport Club Internaci ...

'' rivals of his home state of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a state in the southern region of Brazil. It is the fifth-most-populous state and the ninth largest by area. Located in the southernmost part of the country, Rio Grande do Sul is border ...

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonato ...

and Grêmio. He signed for

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 c ...

at 19 for €15 million but struggled, while he reached the

2005 UEFA Cup Final The 2005 UEFA Cup Final was the final match of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup, the 34th season of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The match was contested by Sporting CP and CSKA Moscow; CSKA won the match 3–1. Sporting CP ope ...

on loan to

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. He also spent three years at

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 ...

of 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 Fo ...

, and played in the

2006 UEFA Cup Final The 2006 UEFA Cup Final was a football match that took place at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, Netherlands on 10 May 2006 as the culmination of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. The match was contested by Middlesbrough of England and Sevilla of Spain. Bot ...

for them. Rochemback played seven games 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 ...

, at the

2001 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup was the fifth FIFA Confederations Cup and the third to be organised by FIFA. It was also the first in which the original hosts, Saudi Arabia, did not participate (they were the nation who founded the tournament, p ...

and

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the defending champions wh ...

Club career

Barcelona

Born in Soledade,

, Rochemback began his career with nearby Sport Club Internacional before transferring to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

in July 2001 at the age of 19. The transfer fee was 2.43 billion pesetas in three instalments (€15 million). Expected to be a replacement for the departure of long-serving captain

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the ...

, Rochemback played a more physical game than the latter, with a strong shot. He has been named as one of the worst players in the club's history, having played at one of their worst periods. In two full seasons at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Bar ...

he made 68 total appearances and scored four goals, most memorably a long-distance strike as a substitute in a 3–1

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 competi ...

win away to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

on 20 November 2001.

Loan to Sporting CP

In July 2003, Rochemback was loaned to Portugal's

for a year, as part of the deal that saw

Ricardo Quaresma Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo (; born 26 September 1983) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger. He began his career at Sporting CP and went on to play for Barcelona, Inter Milan, Porto (twice), Chelsea, Beşiktaş ...

move in the other direction for €10 million. In his second season in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

, he helped the club to the final of the

2004–05 UEFA Cup The 2004–05 UEFA Cup was the 34th edition of the UEFA Cup. The format of the competition had changed from previous seasons, replacing that from the previous one after the abolition of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1999; an extra qualifying round was ...

, scoring a 30-metre free kick in a 2–1 win at

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after i ...

in the second leg of the last 16, and wrapped up a 4–1 win over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

(4–2 aggregate) in the second part of the quarter-finals. In

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

at the club's own

Estádio José Alvalade Estádio José Alvalade is a football stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, home of Sporting Clube de Portugal. It was built adjacent to the site of the older stadium. The stadium is named after José Alvalade (1885–1918), the founder and first club ...

he played the full 90 minutes of a 3–1 loss to

PFC CSKA Moscow Professional Football Club CSKA (russian: link=yes, Профессиональный футбольный клуб – ЦСКА, derived from the historical name 'Центральный спортивный клуб армии', English: ...

Middlesbrough

Having caught the eye of

manager

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching caree ...

during a UEFA Cup game for Sporting earlier in the year, Rochemback signed a five-year deal with the

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

club on transfer deadline day of 31 August 2005. The late deal had been jeopardised by financial complications: Sporting were subject to a €1 million payment to Barcelona if Rochemback did not spend three years on loan at the club, so Middlesbrough agreed to pay this fee as well. This transfer is one of those about which the Stevens inquiry report in June 2007 expressed concerns because of the lack of co-operation from agents

Pini Zahavi Pinhas "Pini" Zahavi ( he, פנחס "פיני" זהבי; born 1955Jackson, Jamie"Profile: Pini Zahavi, football's first and only super-agent" The Observer, 26 November 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-12) is an Israeli football agent. Zahavi was involved ...

and

Barry Silkman Barry Silkman (born 29 June 1952) is a football agent and former player, who played in midfield for 11 clubs including at Manchester City in 1979 and at Leyton Orient from 1981 to 1985. He competed for 16 years. In total, he made 340 professio ...

. Rochemback made his league debut in a 2–1 home win over

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 mostl ...

on 10 September, and scored his first goal on 11 February 2006 in a 3–0 victory against leaders and reigning champions Chelsea also at the

Riverside Stadium The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since it opened in 1995. Its current capacity is 34,742, all seated, although there is provisional planning permission in place t ...

. His first

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 compet ...

goal for Middlesbrough came direct from a free kick, in a 4–2 victory over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

in a quarter–final replay on 11 April. He also played an important role in Middlesbrough's run to the

in a 4–1 victory (4–3 on aggregate) against

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

in the quarter–final second leg on 6 April, which he was named man of the match. Rochemback scored a free kick in Middlesbrough's last match of the

2007–08 Premier League The 2007–08 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) season was the 16th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were played on 11 August 2007, and the season ended on 11 May 2008. Manche ...

an 8–1 win over

Manchester City 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 ...

on 11 May 2008. During his time on Teesside he earned the nickname "Knock'em-back" due to his regular visits to The Keys pub / nightclub in Yarm on weekends.

Return to Sporting CP

On 13 May 2008, Rochemback was released from Middlesbrough, after they rejected the chance to take up a two-year option on his contract. He signed a three-year deal to return to Sporting on the same day.

Grêmio

In August 2009, Rochemback signed a two–year contract with Grêmio and acquired 30% economic rights for €928,000. Sporting retained 40% economic rights. (However Sporting later announced it sold 90% rights) In January 2011 he extended his contract to 31 December 2012.

Dalian

In January 2012, Grêmio directors confirmed the transfer of Rochemback to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

club

Dalian Aerbin Dalian Professional Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that participates in the China Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). Their home stadium is Dalian Sports Ce ...

. He left the club in the end of 2013.

Return to Brazil

Before manager Renato Gaúcho signed with

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

for the 2014 season, he recommended the signing of Rochemback, who he coached while at Grêmio. In January 2014, Rochemback was close to sign with

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

in a two-year deal. The club ended the negotiations due to a change in the financial agreement after a first offer was previously agreed. In June, he joined

Passo Fundo Passo Fundo is a municipality in the north of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is named after its river. It's the twelfth largest city in the state with an estimated population of 204,722 inhabitants living in a total munici ...

amateur club Ipiranga and won the amateur tournament held by the city in 2014.

International career

Rochemback earned seven

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

, all in competitions in 2001. He made his debut on 31 May in the team's

opener against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

, replacing Vágner at half time in a 2–0 win; he played all five games as the team came fourth. Weeks later, he went to the

in Colombia.

Personal life

In 2011, police found birds used for

cockfighting A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

at a building owned by Rochemback in Soledade. In October 2017, he was arrested on further charges of involvement in the blood sport when evidence was found in

Palmeira das Missões Palmeira das Missões is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. As of 2020, the estimated population was 33,131. See also *List of municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Ri ...

Honours

Sporting CP *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

Runner-up: 2004–05 Middlesbrough *

Runner-up: 2005–06

References

External links

* * *
CBF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rochemback, Fabio 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul Association football midfielders Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazil international footballers 2001 Copa América players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players Sporting CP footballers Sport Club Internacional players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players FC Barcelona players Middlesbrough F.C. players Dalian Professional F.C. players Chinese Super League players La Liga players Premier League players Primeira Liga players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in China Brazilian people of German descent Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players