Fábio Henrique Simplício (born 23 September 1979) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He appeared in 243

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

games for three clubs and scored 43 goals, having played for nearly a decade in the country.

Club career

São Paulo and move to Italy

Born in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Simplício started his career with hometown's

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

, going on to remain five years with the club and winning two State Leagues. In 2004, he moved to Italy and signed for

Parma FC Parma Calcio 1913 () is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie A, the top tier of Italian league system, following promotion from Serie B in the 2023–24 season. ''Parma Football Cl ...

, after having been discovered by its

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach, best known for having twice managed AC Milan. Sacchi is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and his Milan side (1987–1991) is widely regarded ...

. Simplício made his

debut on 22 September 2004 in a 1–2 home loss against

Bologna FC 1909 Bologna Football Club 1909, commonly referred to as Bologna (), is an Italian professional football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. The club have won seven top-flight titles, thr ...

, one day shy of his 25th birthday (16 minutes played), and finished his first season with four goals in 34 games, bettering that total to ten in the following campaign.

Palermo

On 14 June 2006 Simplício joined fellow top division side

U.S. Città di Palermo Palermo Football Club () is an Italian professional football club based in Palermo, Sicily, that currently plays in Serie B. It is part of the City Football Group. Founded for the first time on 1 November 1900 as Anglo Palermitan Athletic and F ...

, moving alongside Parma teammate

Mark Bresciano Mark Bresciano ( ; ; born 11 February 1980) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. Born in Melbourne, Bresciano played youth football for Bulleen Lions, before moving into the National Soccer League wi ...

. He was priced at €7.1 million, with €4.6 million being to his previous team. During his four-year spell with the Sicilian club, Simplício appeared in more than 26 league matches, adding eight

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

appearances in two separate seasons combined (two goals). In January 2010, his agent Gilmar Rinaldi announced he would not extend his contract with Palermo, set to expire in June.

Roma

On 1 June 2010, Simplício moved to

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

on a three-year contract worth €1.8m per season, effective as of 1 July. He scored four league goals from 24 appearances in his debut campaign, adding the 2–1 winner against

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

for the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

as the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

side reached the semifinals. In 2011–12, Simplício netted the same number of goals, including one in a

Derby del Sole The Derby del Sole (or the Derby of the Sun in English), also known as Derby del Sud, is an Italian football derby between Napoli and Roma. The two clubs are considered the most popular outside of Northern Italy; Roma being from Central Italy a ...

against

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

in a 3–1 away triumph, but Roma could only finish seventh, thus not qualifying for any European competition.

Cerezo Osaka

On 27 July 2012, Simplício joined

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osak ...

. He made his official debut on 4 August against

Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club based in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. They will play in the 2025 J2 League, the second tier league of Japanese football, after relegation from the J1 League at conclusion of th ...

, contributing to the 4–0 victory.

International career

On 17 November 2009, aged 30, Simplício earned his first and only

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

with

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. He came on as a substitute for

Felipe Melo Felipe Melo de Carvalho (born 26 June 1983), known as Felipe Melo, is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer who played as a defensive midfielder or centre-back. He began his career with Brazilian teams Clube de Rega ...

in the second half of the 2–0 win.

Business career

Simplício owned American soccer team

Miami Dade FC Miami Dade FC is an American association football, soccer team based in Miami, Florida. The club was founded in 2014 and is currently competing in United Premier Soccer League. In November 2015, the club made international headlines by announci ...

and software

Ginga Scout Ginga Scout is a location-based soccer application owned by Linck Group that facilitates communication between mutually interested users allowing them to chat. Soccer players, Coaches and Scouts. The software was launched November 1, 2015.”. ...

, alongside fellow former footballers such as Emerson, Roberto Linck or

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), often known as Roberto Carlos and sometimes ''RC3'', is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer. He has been described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

São Paulo *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

: 2000,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Torneio Rio–São Paulo The Torneio Rio–São Paulo () was a traditional Brazilian football competition contested between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro teams from 1933 to 1966, in 1993 and from 1997 to 2002. Organized by the state football associations of the state o ...

: 2001 Individual * Bola de Prata: 2002

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simplicio, Fabio 1979 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players São Paulo FC players Serie A players Parma Calcio 1913 players Palermo FC players AS Roma players J1 League players Cerezo Osaka players Vissel Kobe players Brazil men's international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan