Patrick Fabiano Alves Nóbrega Luz (born 4 September 1987), commonly known as Patrick Fabiano, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Brazilian club São Caetano. Born in Brazil and having played for clubs in Asia since 2009, he went to represent Timor-Leste internationally in 2014 in order to be registered as an Asian player in his Asian clubs since then, despite having no connection to Timor-Leste.[3] He was declared as ineligible to play for that national team by the Asian Football Confederation in 2017.
Club career
Youth career
Patrick Fabiano began his footballing career in 2004 with the U-16 team of São Bernardo do Campo-based club, Palestra de São Bernardo. In 2005, he moved to his home town São Paulo where he signed a one-year youth contract with one of Brazil's top most club, Guarani and thus became eligible to play for the U-17 team of the club.
Grêmio Mauaense
Patrick Fabiano began his professional footballing career in 2006 with Mauá-based Grêmio Esportivo Mauaense. He scored eight goals in 11 appearances in the 2006 Copa Paulista for the Mauá-based club.
In 2008, Patrick Fabiano signed a one-year contract with another Bolivian club, Club Blooming. He made seven appearances in the 2008 Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano. He also scored three goals in five appearances in the 2008 Copa Aerosur for the Santa Cruz de la Sierra-based club.
In 2010, Patrick Fabiano moved to another Middle Eastern country and this time to the United Arab Emirates where he signed a two-year contract with UAE First Division League club, Al-Khaleej Club. He made his debut for the club on 26 August 2010 in a 2010–11 Etisalat Emirates Cup qualification match in a 1–0 win over Al-Fujairah SC[5] and scored his first goal in the same competition two days later on 30 August in a 1–1 draw against Dibba Al-Hisn Sports Club.[6] In the qualification process, he put up an eye-catching performance for the club which included a record of five goals in a single match on 7 October 2010 in a 7–0 win over Ras Al Khaima Club[7] and three hat tricks, on 4 September 2010 in a 6–1 win over Armed Forces,[8] on 6 November 2010 in a 5–0 win over Al-Dhaid[9] and on 14 November 2011 in a 6–1 win over Al-Rams Club.[10] He also made an appearance in the 2010–11 UAE President's Cup in Round 1 on 21 September 2010 in a 4–1 loss against Baniyas F.C.[11] He made his UAE First Division League debut and scored his first goal in the competition on 9 December 2010 in a 3–3 draw against Emirates Club.[12] He scored 19 goals in 17 appearances in the 2010-11 UAE First Division League, finishing as the top scorer. He also scored 24 goals in 13 appearances in the qualification to the 2010–11 Etisalat Emirates Cup.
In his second consecutive season for the club, he made his first appearance and scored his first goal for the club on 30 September 2011 in a 2011–12 Etisalat Emirates Cup qualification match in a 3–3 draw against Al-Ittihad Kalba SC.[13] He made his first appearance in the 2011-12 UAE First Division League on 24 November 2011 in a 4–0 win over Al-Urooba.[14] In the competition, his performance of the season was on 5 December 2011 when he scored a hat trick in a 3–3 draw against Al-Fujairah SC.[15] He also made an appearance in the 2011–12 UAE President's Cup in Round of 16 on 18 December 2011 in a 2–1 loss against Al-Sharjah SCC.[16] He scored 8 goals in 7 appearances in the 2011-12 UAE First Division League. He also scored five goals in four appearances in qualification to the 2011–12 Etisalat Emirates Cup.
In 2012, Patrick Fabiano moved back to the United Arab Emirates where he was signed by UAE First Division League club, Hatta Club on a one-year loan deal from Clube Atlético Paranaense. He scored 25 goals in 28 appearances in the 2012–13 UAE First Division League finishing as the second top scorer. He also scored two goals in three appearances in qualification to the 2012–13 Etisalat Emirates Cup.
Al-Fujairah
In 2013, Patrick Fabiano signed a one-year contract with another Emirati club, Al-Fujairah SC. He made his debut and scored his first goal for the club on 7 September 2013 in a 2013–14 UAE President's Cup qualification match in a 7–0 win over Al-Rams Club.[20] He made his 2013–14 UAE First Division League debut on 9 November 2013 in a 1–0 loss against Al-Ittihad Kalba SC[21] and scored his first goal in the competition on 14 September 2013 in a 2–2 draw against Hatta Club.[22] He scored 14 goals in 22 appearances in the 2013–14 UAE First Division League, helping his team to secure the second position in the league and thus getting promoted to the UAE Arabian Gulf League. He also scored six goals in eight appearances in qualification to the 2013–14 UAE President's Cup, sharing the top scorer award with Asamoah Gyan of Al-Ain FC and Grafite of Al-Ahli F.C.[23]
On 23 July 2014, Patrick Fabiano moved back to Kuwait where he signed a three-year contract with Kuwaiti Premier League club, Kazma SC.[24] He made his first appearance for the club on 23 August 2014 in a 2–0 loss against Al-Arabi SC[25] and scored his first goal in his second appearance for the club on 30 August 2014 in a 1–1 draw against 2013–14 Kuwaiti Premier League winners, Qadsia SC.[26] On 9 December 2014, he scored the fastest goal in the history of Kuwaiti Premier League, since the league started in the 1961–62 season. He scored the first goal of the match in a 3–0 win over Al-Yarmouk SC in just seven seconds after the kick-off.[27][28][29][30] He also made an appearance in the Quarter-finals of the 2014–15 Kuwait Emir Cup in a 3–2 loss against Al-Arabi SC.[31] He made 5 appearances in the 2015 GCC Champions League and helped his team to reach the Semi-finals of the competition where his side lost to 2-1 Qatari side, Al-Rayyan SC.[32][33] He scored 22 goals in 24 appearances in the 2014-15 Kuwaiti Premier League, finishing as the top scorer and also equaling the record of Kuwait's Hamad Al Harbi who also scored 22 goals in the 2005–06 Kuwaiti Premier League, one less than the record of 23 goals from Syrian international Omar Al Soma in the 2013–14 Kuwaiti Premier League.[34][35][36]
On 27 July 2017, Patrick Fabiano signed a two-year contract with Kuwait SC.[40][41] He made his official debut on 7 September 2017 in the 2017 Kuwait Super Cup and helped his side lift the coveted trophy.[42]
On 19 January 2017, the Asian Football Confederation declared Patrick Fabiano and eleven other Brazilian men's footballers ineligible to represent East Timor.[50][51]
Personal life
On 18 June 2013, he received an East Timorese passport and hence he shares dual-citizenship between Brazil and Timor-Leste. However, the Asian Football Confederation found four years later that he had a falsified Timorese birth or baptismal certificate.[52]
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