Place of birth Santo Tirso, Portugal 1990–1995 ARC Areias Height 1.83 m Position Defender | Playing position 1995–1996 Famalicão Weight 80 kg | |
 | ||
Full name Ricardo Sérgio Rocha Azevedo Date of birth (1978-10-03) 3 October 1978 (age 38) Number 33 (Portsmouth F.C. / Defender), 4 (Standard Liège / Defender) Profiles | ||
Ricardo Sérgio Rocha Azevedo (born 3 October 1978), known as Rocha, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played mainly as a central defender.
Contents
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.
Portugal
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.
Abroad
On 17 January 2007, stories hit the Portuguese and English media confirming that a move to Tottenham Hotspur was a possibility. The following day, Portuguese newspapers reported that the move was imminent following a meeting in Lisbon between Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, former Tottenham player turned agent Ronny Rosenthal and the Benfica president, with a price of €5 million (£3.2m) plus two friendlies between the clubs, with Benfica receiving all profits from the gate receipts and television money, being arranged.
Rocha was signed by Tottenham for an undisclosed fee thought to be around £3.3 million on a three-and-half-year deal, on 23 January 2007. He played his first game on 27 January in the 3–1 win over Southend United in the FA Cup fourth round, in place of captain Ledley King who was injured at the time; on 10 February he made his first Premier League appearance for the Spurs, against Sheffield United.
Rocha played just five games for Tottenham in 2007–08, and none whatsoever in all competitions in the following season. He was eventually released on 14 June 2009, after his contract expired.
On 31 August 2009 Rocha moved to Belgium with Standard Liège, on a one-year deal. However, his contract was terminated on 30 January 2010; on 1 February he returned to England, signing a two-year deal with Portsmouth and making his debut in a 0–5 defeat at Manchester United five days later.
Rocha was sent off in his next two Portsmouth games, against Sunderland on 9 February and late-on in his return game against Burnley, on the 27th. Things improved for the defender when he put in a Man of the match performance in Portsmouth's FA Cup semi-final victory over former club Spurs.
In the 2010 summer Portsmouth offered Rocha a new contract, and, on 4 September, he re-signed with the club, with the two-year deal being officially confirmed by the team six days later. He was sent off in two consecutive games, against Reading (0–2 loss) and Cardiff City (0–3 defeat), finishing the season with 29 league appearances as his team ranked in 16th position.
In his second season at Portsmouth Rocha, along with Dave Kitson, fell out of favor with Steve Cotterill, but the manager left for Nottingham Forest in mid-October 2011. He was awarded the team's Player of the Season award, but the side was relegated to Football League One; at the end of the campaign, and upon the expiry of his contract, he was released.
In September 2012 Rocha went on trial at Ipswich Town, but nothing came of it. On 6 October, Leeds United announced that the 34-year-old had been trialling with the club for a period of ten days. On 19 November, however, he re-signed for Portsmouth on an initial one-month contract, extending his link for another one month in January.
Rocha's future with Pompey appeared to be in doubt after he claimed that he had no contract offer from the club. Additionally, manager Guy Whittingham stated that he refused to rule out giving the player a new deal.
Despite the end of his contract, Rocha expressed desire to make a return to Portsmouth, but left the club in July after both parties were unable to reach an agreement. Chairman Iain McInnes explained his returned had scuppered, due to wanting a role for "off-the-field role on top of a playing deal by becoming the club's director of football."
International career
After making his debut for Portugal on 20 November 2002 against Scotland, Rocha returned for a friendly with Denmark and a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Finland after a three-year absence, as he was not a regular starter at Benfica then.