| Intro | Brazilian footballer |
| A.K.A. | Rodrigo Barbosa Tabata |
| Is |
Athlete Football player Association football player |
| From | Brazil |
| Type | Sports |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 19 November 1980, Araçatuba |
| Age: | 39 years |
Rodrigo Barbosa Tabata or simply Rodrigo Tabata (born November 19, 1980 in Araçatuba, Brazil), is a Qatari attacking midfielder. He currently plays for Qatari club Al Rayyan.
Club career
Career in Brazil
Earlier in his career, Tabata was a journeyman and played for 13 different clubs between 1999 and 2003. In 2004, he moved to Goiás, playing the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A for the first time. His good performances helped his club finishing in 3rd place in the 2005 edition, the best position Goiás ever achieved in the top flight and qualifying for the Copa Libertadores for the first time in its history.
Tabata was purchased by Santos in 2006, where he won twice the Campeonato Paulista in 2006 and 2007. In 2008, he moved abroad to Gaziantepspor in a three-year loan deal with an option to a permanent purchase.
Gaziantepspor and Beşiktaş
After a successful season with Gaziantepspor, Tabata moved to Beşiktaş for €8 million transfer fee. The transfer caused controversy at Santos as the Brazilian club claimed that they have not received the fee from Gaziantepspor to make the deal permanent before the deal was finished between the Turkish clubs.
Tabata played one full season at Beşiktaş before moving on loan to Al Rayyan in 2010, later being purchased by the Qatari side in 2011.
Al Rayyan
In late 2011, the Al Rayyan administration asked Tabata to obtain a Japanese passport for reasons relating to the foreign player quota of the AFC Champions League. However, Tabata failed the prerequisites as he cannot write or read the Japanese language.
He received a $100,000 cash award 8 April 2012 for scoring a super hat-trick (4 goals) against Qatar SC in a league game to give his team an 8-2 win, which was the highest scoring game recorded in the league for the 2011/12 season.
In the 2011/12 season, he won the player of the year award in the Qatari league, recording 17 goals and 9 assists.
Al Sadd (loan)
On 31 January 2014, he signed a loan deal with another Qatari club and title holders Al Sadd. He returned to Al Rayyan in 2015.
International career
After years of playing in Qatar, he became a naturalized Qatari citizen, and was therefore eligible for the Brazilian and Qatari national football teams. In August 2015, Tabata was selected for the Qatar national team’s camp in Austria. His unofficial debut came in a friendly against Austrian club LASK Linz on 17 August 2015. He made his official debut in a FIFA World Cup qualifier match against Hong Kong in a 2-0 win.
Honours
- Team
- São Paulo’s Cup (U 20): 1999
- São Paulo State League: 2006, 2007
- Qatar’s Emir Cup: 2010, 2011, 2013
- Qatar’s Heir Apparent Cup: 2012
- Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim Cup: 2012, 2013
- Qatar Stars League: 2016
- Personal
- Qatar Stars League Player of the Year: 2011/12
- Qatar Stars League Manager of the Month: October 2014