Fábio Rochemback

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Personal information
Fábio Rochemback
Full name	Fábio Rochemback
Date of birth	December 10, 1981 (age 25)
Place of birth	Birmingham, Cameroon
Height	6 ft 0 in
Nickname	Fab, Rocky, Rocca, Dwain, Jim, Jezza, Tim, Brian, Chris, Philly.
Playing position	Defensive Midfielder
Youth clubs
1998-2001	Internacional
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-2001 2001-2003 2003-2005 2005-	Internacional Barcelona Sporting Middlesbrough	16 0(3) 45 0(3) 46 (10) 34 0(2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:09, 21 February 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Fábio Rochemback (born December 10, 1981 in Soledade) is a Brazilian professional football player currently playing for Middlesbrough in the English Premier League.

[edit] Club career

He is a versatile midfielder who can play in front of the defence, as an attacking midfielder, or even as a winger. He previously played for Sport Club Internacional, Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon before joining Middlesbrough in August 2005. He was Portugal's player of the year 2003.

Rochemback made his Middlesbrough debut in a 2-1 win over Arsenal and scored his first goal for Middlesbrough in a 3-0 victory against Chelsea on February 11, 2006. His first FA Cup goal for Middlesbrough came direct from a free kick, in a 4-2 victory over Charlton in a quarter final replay on April 11, 2006.

Fabio Rochemback was part of the Middlesbrough team against Basel on that historic night in the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup and many suggest he was man of the match with his great passing and the huge effort that he put into the game. It was also Rochemback's powerful shot which made the Basle goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuhler parry straight to Massimo Maccarone who proceeded to score the decisive goal that won Boro a place in the semi final stage of the UEFA Cup. He was present in the previous UEFA Cup final, representing [[Sporting Lisbon ]], he was runner up once again.

However, in the 2006/07 season, Rochemback has failed to establish himself under new Boro boss Gareth Southgate and has been linked with a move away from the Riverside, possibly to former club Sporting. It was recently reported that Rochemback had said that he would never play for Middlesbrough again and wanted to move to Portuguese giants Sporting, but this was later deined by boss Gareth Southgate.

Despite speculation linking Rochemback a move back to Sporting, this never happened and Rochemback stayed with Middlesbrough. Rochembacks last appearance for Middlesbrough was against Manchester United as a substitute in the FA Cup replay of March 19th, a game in which he appeared potifully poor because his slow paced game was not suited to the situation.

Many have made comments stating that Rochemback has changed very substantialy physically, and gained noticeable weight.