Alain Rochat (born 1 February 1983) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a full-back. Born in Canada, he represented Switzerland internationally.

Club career

Switzerland

Rochat was born in Canada but his family moved to Switzerland when he was two years old. He began his career at Yverdon-Sport in 1999 before moving to Young Boys in 2002. His play with Young Boys led to a move to French side

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

in 2005. Seeing limited action with the French side, Rochat returned to Switzerland joining top side

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

in time for the 2006 campaign. Rochat was part of the FC Zürich side that won Swiss Super League championship titles during the 2006–07 and 2008–09 campaigns. Having become a prominent member of FC Zurich, he signed a new four-year contract with the club. In 2010, Rochat and FC Zürich reached the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, where they faced Spanish giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, Italian powerhouse

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

, and France's

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

in Group C.

Vancouver Whitecaps

He signed with USSF-D2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC during the 2010 season but was immediately loaned back to FC Zürich until 21 January 2011. He joined the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

upon his return. During the

2011 Major League Soccer season The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 16th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 33rd with a national first-division league. This season marked the arrival of ...

, the Whitecaps finished last MLS, but during the 2012 season, Rochat switched from his usual left back position to a defensive midfield position and helped lead the team to more than 10 clean sheets.

D.C. United

Rochat was traded to D.C. United on 7 June 2013 in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft and a conditional pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. Rochat was reportedly unhappy with the trade since it disrupted his family life.

Return to Switzerland

After a month with D.C. United, Rochat was sold to one of his former clubs, Young Boys, for a fee of $500,000.

International career

Rochat appeared for Switzerland at the youth international level before making his senior international debut on 4 June 2005, as

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

claimed a 3–1 away victory over the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

in Group Four of European qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Honours

FC Zürich *

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

: 2006–07, 2008–09

Notes

:A. Signed with

and then loaned-back to Zürich until January 2011.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochat, Alain 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Canadian men's soccer players Swiss people of Canadian descent Canadian emigrants to Switzerland FC Zürich players BSC Young Boys players Yverdon-Sport FC players Men's association football defenders Swiss-French people Soccer people from Quebec Stade Rennais FC players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss Super League players Ligue 1 players Major League Soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players D.C. United players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in France Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Canadian sportsmen 21st-century Swiss sportsmen