Ricardo Rocha (footballer, born 1978)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ricardo Sérgio Rocha Azevedo | ||
| Date of birth | 3 October 1978 | ||
| Place of birth | Santo Tirso, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1990–1995 | ARC Areias | ||
| 1995–1996 | Famalicão | ||
| 1996–1997 | Vitória Guimarães | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–1999 | Famalicão | 28 | (2) |
| 1999–2000 | Braga B | 35 | (2) |
| 2000–2001 | Braga | 44 | (2) |
| 2002–2007 | Benfica | 115 | (3) |
| 2007–2009 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Standard Liège | 7 | (0) |
| 2010–2013 | Portsmouth | 97 | (0) |
| Total | 336 | (9) | |
| National team | |||
| 2002–2006 | Portugal | 6 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Ricardo Sérgio Rocha Azevedo (born 3 October 1978), known as Ricardo Rocha, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played mainly as a central defender.
After starting out professionally with Braga he signed for Benfica in late 2001, going on to appear in 157 official games with the latter club. He spent the vast majority of his remaining career in England, with Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth, competing in three Premier League seasons overall.
Rocha was born in Santo Tirso, Porto District. Having made a name for himself with perennial UEFA Cup qualification candidates S.C. Braga and making his first division debuts during the 1999–2000 season, he moved to S.L. Benfica in December 2001, along with teammates Armando Sá and Tiago (in Rocha's case the move was made official in June of the following year), and eventually developed into a fierce stopper with good marking ability.
During his four-and-a-half seasons with the Lisbon club, Rocha made a total of 157 appearances and scored three goals, which included 33 games in European competitions. He added 25 matches in the 2004–05 league campaign, as it ended an 11-year drought and conquered the national championship.
On 28 March 2006, Rocha had a widely lauded performance in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals first leg against eventual champions FC Barcelona, marking Ronaldinho out of the game in a 0–0 home draw and 0–2 aggregate loss.
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