Luís Fabiano

Luís Fabiano
	Luís Fabiano while at Sevilla in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Luís Fabiano Clemente
Date of birth	8 November 1980 (age 43)
Place of birth	Campinas, Brazil
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	Ponte Preta
Senior career*
Years	Team
1998–2000	Ponte Preta
2000–2002	Rennes
2001	→ São Paulo (loan)
2002–2004	São Paulo
2004–2005	Porto
2005–2011	Sevilla
2011–2015	São Paulo
2016	Tianjin Quanjian
2017	Vasco da Gama
Total
International career
2003–2013	Brazil
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing Brazil
FIFA Confederations Cup
Copa América
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Luís Fabiano Clemente (born 8 November 1980), commonly known as Luís Fabiano, is a retired Brazilian professional footballer who played as a striker most notably for Sevilla, São Paulo, and the Brazil national team.

He is a prolific goalscorer and was ranked the second-highest-scoring Brazilian of the 21st century, according to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.^[2]

Club career

Early career

Luís Fabiano enjoyed great success during two spells with Brazilian side São Paulo, with a disappointing period at French side Rennes sandwiched in between.^[3] His strength on the ball, accurate finishing and pace made him a vital part of the side that fell in the semi-finals of the 2004 Copa Libertadores de América.

Luís Fabiano was labeled the "bad boy" of Brazilian football when playing for São Paulo after a number of brawls. During a 2003 Copa Sudamericana match for São Paulo against River Plate of Argentina, a fight between the players broke out. Luís Fabiano ran behind a River player and kicked him just below the neck. While being escorted off the field, Luís Fabiano said that he "would rather fight than take a penalty".^[4] He was given a three-match ban from all competitions.

Porto

Luís Fabiano moved to Portugal to play for Porto in 2004 for a €1.875 million transfer fee; Porto, however, only bought 25% of his rights, the other 75% belonging to Global Soccer Investments (later renamed to Rio Football Services).^[5]^[6] At Porto, Luís Fabiano was reunited with his international teammate Diego, who he played with on the Brazil squad at the 2004 Copa América.^[7] Luís Fabiano had a troublesome season, however, scoring only three goals in 22 matches. This led to him being transferred to La Liga side Sevilla.

Sevilla signed 25% economic right from Porto and later signed a further 10% from Rio Football Services for €1.2 million, with a pre-set price of remains 65% rights for €7.15 million to be excised on or before 15 April 2007, although it was never excised. Moreover, Sevilla had to pay Rio Football Services €450,000 annually. Eventually, the third parties ownership had brought to the court.^[5]

Sevilla

Luís Fabiano transferred to Sevilla ahead of the 2005–06 season, replacing his compatriot and former São Paulo teammate Júlio Baptista, who in turn had just become a Real Madrid player. On 10 May 2006, Luís Fabiano scored a header during Sevilla's 4–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the UEFA Cup Final. The success continued in the 2007–08 season, as Luís Fabiano finished runner-up in the Pichichi Trophy with 24 goals (including two from the penalty spot), second only to Daniel Güiza's 27 goals. This led to Luís Fabiano being recalled to the Brazilian Seleção. On 29 November, Luís Fabiano was sent off for elbowing Barcelona's Sergio Busquets. He had to be restrained by the Sevilla staff.^[8] In 2008, Luís Fabiano extended his contract with Sevilla to 2011.^[9]

On 4 July 2009, according to Luís Fabiano's agent, Milan made an official offer for him, with Luís Fabiano reportedly pleading with his club Sevilla to allow him to make the switch to the San Siro.^[10] The deal, however, did not go through.

On 30 August 2010, Luís Fabiano put an end to the speculation with a move away from Sevilla by signing a contract extension until 2013. On the renewal, he stated his intentions: "This is my home, I've been here six seasons and I will try to continue scoring goals and continue making history for Sevilla."

Return to São Paulo

On 13 March 2011, Luís Fabiano returned to Brazil to rejoin São Paulo. The Brazilian club paid €7.6 million for the striker, who signed a four-year deal.^[11]^[12] He was welcomed by 45,000 fans at his presentation at Estádio do Morumbi. On 29 July 2012, playing against Flamengo, Luís Fabiano scored two goals and thus became the seventh-most prolific goalscorer of São Paulo's history, outscoring Leônidas.^[13]

On 26 August 2012, Luís Fabiano scored twice in São Paulo's 2–1 win over Corinthians.^[14] In 2013, however, after a year in which he was injured or had been out of form, Luís Fabiano was charged by Muricy Ramalho, then the coach of club. According to Ramalho, using Ganso (who recovered his good shape) as an example, Ramalho stated Luís Fabiano needs "wanting more".^[15]

In December 2015, he was released from São Paulo and joined Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian as a free agent.

International career

Luís Fabiano made his debut for Brazil on 11 June 2003 in a friendly against Nigeria, marking his international debut with a goal before being substituted. He was also included in Brazil's squad for 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, but did not make any appearances.

He won the 2004 Copa América with Brazil, where he started in all five matches alongside striker Adriano. With his poor form in Europe with Porto and Sevilla, however, he did not make any further international appearances for more than three years. He was finally recalled to the national team in November 2007 for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches. On 19 November 2008, he scored his first international hat-trick in a friendly match against Portugal in Brasília. The match ended in a 6–2 victory for Brazil.^[16]

On 28 June 2009, Luís Fabiano scored two goals in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup final win against the United States.^[17] He won the golden boot as the tournament's top scorer with five goals.^[18]

Luís Fabiano scored his first international goal in nine months with a right-footed strike against Ivory Coast on 20 June 2010 in the 2010 World Cup. He followed it up with a second goal, which he scored after touching the ball with his hands on two occasions.^[19] His third goal of the competition came against Chile in the round of 16 on 29 June 2010, as Brazil won 3–0. On 11 September 2012, Luís Fabiano was called up for the first time since the 2010 World Cup by then coach Mano Menezes for the two Superclásico de las Américas matches against national rivals Argentina, held in both Brazil and Argentina respectively.

Style of play

Luís Fabiano was a prolific, skilful and powerful goalscorer, with excellent creativity, dribbling skills, and technical ability; he also had a strong physical presence against defenders and goalkeepers.^[20] Nonetheless, he had a poor disciplinary record, despite playing as a forward. Even as the top goalscorer in the 2013 season with 16 goals by June, he had received several red cards, hindering São Paulo in important games.^[21]

Personal life

Luís Fabiano is married to Juliana Paradela Clemente,^[22] and has three children, Giovanna, Gabriella and Giulie.^[23] In 2005, his mother was kidnapped by gunmen in Campinas.^[24] She was rescued by police 62 days later.^[25]

Career statistics

Club

Sources:^[26]^[27]^[28]

Club	Season	League			State league^[a]		National cup^[b]		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Ponte Preta	1998	Série A	7	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	2
	1999	Série A	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
	Total		12	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	3
Rennes	2000–01	Ligue 1	7	0	–		–		–		–		7	0
	2001–02	Ligue 1	4	0	–		–		–		1^[c]	0	5	0
	Total		11	0	–		–		–		1	0	12	0
São Paulo (loan)	2001	Série A	22	9	9	5	4	6	6	2	8	9	49	31
São Paulo	2002	Série A	23	19	–		–		–		2	2	25	21
	2003		34	29	10	8	8	8	4	1	–		56	46
	2004		8	6	9	8	–		12	8	–		29	22
	Total		87	63	19	16	8	8	16	9	2	2	159	120
Porto	2004–05	Primeira Liga	22	3	–		–		4^[d]	0	1^[e]	0	27	3
Sevilla	2005–06	La Liga	23	5	–		2	0	12^[f]	2	–		37	7
	2006–07		26	10	–		3	1	9^[f]	4	1^[g]	0	39	15
	2007–08		30	24	–		4	1	10^[d]	7	2^[h]	1	46	33
	2008–09		26	8	–		7	6	4^[f]	2	–		37	16
	2009–10		23	15	–		6	4	6^[d]	2	–		35	21
	2010–11		21	10	–		4	1	8^[i]	2	2^[j]	1	35	14
	Total		149	72	–		26	13	49	19	5	2	229	106
São Paulo	2011	Série A	10	6	–		–		2^[k]	1	–		12	7
	2012		22	17	8	5	9	8	5^[k]	1	–		44	31
	2013		24	6	13	8	–		11^[l]	7	2^[m]	0	50	21
	2014		23	9	14	9	3	2	3^[k]	0	–		43	20
	2015		22	8	7	3	4	1	6^[n]	1	–		39	13
	Total		101	46	42	25	16	11	27	10	2	0	188	92
Tianjin Quanjian	2016	China League One	28	22	–		1	1	–		–		29	23
Vasco da Gama	2017	Série A	12	5	7	1	1	0	–		–		20	6
Career total			422	214	77	47	56	39	102	40	19	13	676	353

^ Includes Campeonato Paulista, Campeonato Carioca
^ Includes Copa do Brasil, Copa del Rey, Chinese FA Cup
^ Appearance in Coupe de la Ligue
^ ^a ^b ^c Appearances in UEFA Champions League
^ Appearance in Intercontinental Cup
^ ^a ^b ^c Appearances in UEFA Cup
^ Appearance in UEFA Super Cup
^ One appearance and goal in Supercopa de España, one appearance in UEFA Super Cup
^ Two appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, six appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
^ Appearances in Supercopa de España
^ ^a ^b ^c Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
^ Six appearances and five goals in Copa Libertadores, five appearances and two goals in Copa Sudamericana
^ Appearances in Recopa Sudamericana
^ Appearances in Copa Libertadores

International

Source:^[29]^[30]^[31]^[32]^[27]

Year	Apps	Goals
Brazil
2003	3	1
2004	9	5
2005	0	0
2006	0	0
2007	2	2
2008	9	6
2009	13	11
2010	7	3
2011	0	0
2012	1	0
2013	1	0
Total	45	28

Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first. Score column indicates score after each Luís Fabiano goal.^[27]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	11 June 2003	National Stadium, Abuja, Nigeria	Nigeria	2–0	3–0	Friendly
2.	28 April 2004	Ferenc Puskás Stadium, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	2–0	4–1
3.	28 April 2004	Ferenc Puskás Stadium, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	3–0	4–1
4.	6 June 2004	Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile	Chile	1–0	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.	8 July 2004	Estadio Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru	Chile	1–0	1–0	2004 Copa América
6.	14 July 2004	Estadio Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru	Paraguay	1–1	1–2	2004 Copa América
7.	21 November 2007	Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil	Uruguay	1–1	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.	21 November 2007	Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil	Uruguay	2–1	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.	31 May 2008	Qwest Field, Seattle, United States	Canada	2–1	3–2	Friendly
10.	7 September 2008	Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile	Chile	1–0	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.	7 September 2008	Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile	Chile	3–0	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
12.	19 November 2008	Bezerrão, Gama, Brazil	Portugal	1–1	6–2	Friendly
13.				2–1
14.				4–1
15.	1 April 2009	Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, Brazil	Peru	1–0	3–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
16.	1 April 2009	Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, Brazil	Peru	2–0	3–0
17.	6 June 2009	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay	3–0	4–0
18.	15 June 2009	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa	Egypt	2–1	4–3	2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
19.	21 June 2009	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa	Italy	1–0	3–0
20.	21 June 2009	Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa	Italy	2–0	3–0
21.	28 June 2009	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	United States	1–2	3–2
22.	28 June 2009	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	United States	2–2	3–2
23.	12 August 2009	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	1–0	1–0	Friendly
24.	5 September 2009	Estadio Gigante de Arroyito, Rosario, Argentina	Argentina	2–0	3–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
25.	5 September 2009	Estadio Gigante de Arroyito, Rosario, Argentina	Argentina	3–1	3–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
26.	20 June 2010	Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa	Ivory Coast	1–0	3–1	2010 FIFA World Cup
27.	20 June 2010	Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa	Ivory Coast	2–0	3–1
28.	28 June 2010	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa	Chile	2–0	3–0