Fábio Alves da Silva (born 4 January 1979), commonly known as Bilica, 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, rugby lea ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Bilica is infamous for his statement during his time at

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

when during a game against

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

he claimed that he would break the legs of

Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pr ...

. Baggio wound up getting injured and stayed on the sidelines for several months, but the tackle was made by Antonio Marasco. While playing for Venezia during the

1999–2000 Serie A The 1999–2000 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 98th season of top-tier Italian football, the 68th in a round-robin tournament. It was contested by 18 teams. By late March, Juventus topped the table by nine po ...

season, Bilica replaced the goalkeeper who had been sent off and then proceeded to save a penalty from

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

striker

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko (, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian former Manager (association football), football manager and Football player, player. Shevchenko is considered one of the greatest Striker (association football), strik ...

. Bilica made his debut at

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

. He then later played for clubs including

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

and many more. In 2004, Bilica was approached by

Goiás Esporte Clube Goiás Esporte Clube is a Brazilian sports club, best known for its association football team, located in the city of Goiânia, capital city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. Goiás has won Brazilian's second tier Série B twice, in 1999 an ...

, as part of the manager Celso Roth's preparations for the

2004 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2004 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A was the 48th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. The competition was won by Santos, coached by Vanderlei Luxemburgo. Runners-up were Atlético Paranaense, which led the competition for 11 weeks ...

. However, the negotiations with the

Goiânia Goiânia ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian federative units of Brazil, state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region and the 10th-larges ...

club did not go as expected. Bilica was then signed by the

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

club Grêmio. At Grêmio, Fábio Bilica was part of the squad that was relegated to the Série B. In a disastrous campaign, Grêmio was virtually relegated with four rounds to go to the end of the season, and Bilica was dismissed by the team after problems with the club, such as a verbal altercation with heckling fans, arguments with the coach Cláudio Duarte, and for the poor campaign and financial conditions of the club. Bilica was released by the club after the end of the season, amidst problems with the club president, Paulo Odone, and allegations of indiscipline and improper conduct. In November 2007, he arrived in Romania, at Universitatea Cluj, there he played in 17 matches and in the last game of the season which was the Cluj derby against

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

, Bilica fouled an opponent in his own penalty area, so CFR Cluj scored their winning goal. After this match, it was suspected that he did not play fair against CFR Cluj, helping them to win the Romanian championship instead of Steaua Bucharest. He later stated in an interview that he was contacted by some players from CFR Cluj with three days before the match who tried to convince him to "take it easy" against them, telling him they have a lot of money for him, but he refused. Bilica signed for

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Net Global Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department has competed in Süper Lig since t ...

in July 2008 and caught the attention of Fenerbahçe. He later signed with Fenerbahçe on 8 June 2009 in exchange for Yasin Çakmak and €1.5 million.

International career

Bilica was a member of the Brazil Olympic team at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

where he reached the quarter finals, Brazil lost to

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

at the quarter finals. He played in the Olympic team alongside much more famous players as

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...

Lúcio Lucimar Ferreira da Silva (born 8 May 1978), commonly known as Lúcio, is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. A tall and physically strong defender who excelled in the air, he is regard ...

and

Fábio Aurélio Fábio Aurélio Rodrigues (born 24 September 1979) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played for Grêmio, São Paulo, Valencia and Liverpool. He played as either a left back or left winger and represented Brazil at under-17 and ...

Honours

Fenerbahçe *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

: 2011–12 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup, known as Turkcell Super Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a super cup tournament in Turkish football. Founded in 1966 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by four teams: the winners ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilica 1979 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Olympic footballers for Brazil Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Esporte Clube Bahia players Istres FC players Venezia FC players AC Ancona players Goiás Esporte Clube players Grêmio FBPA players Brescia Calcio players Palermo FC players 1. FC Köln players Sivasspor footballers FC Universitatea Cluj players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Elazığspor footballers Esporte Clube Vitória players Auto Esporte Clube (PB) players Atlético Cajazeirense de Desportos players Batatais Futebol Clube players Liga I players 2. Bundesliga players Serie A players Serie B players Ligue 2 players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Men's association football defenders Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen