David Rochela Calvo (born 19 February 1990) is a Spanish 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Brought up at

Deportivo La Coruña ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...

, he made 18 appearances including in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

and the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, also representing

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

in the latter. He spent most of his career in the

Thai League 1 The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

, winning honours at

Buriram United Buriram United Football Club () is a Thai professional football club based in Buriram. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the majority of their existence and competes in the Thai League 1. The club was founded in 1970 as P ...

and

Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

Club career

Deportivo

Born in

As Pontes de García Rodríguez As Pontes de García Rodríguez is a municipality in the northwest of the province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Eume. It is the largest municipality in the province and it has a popula ...

, Galicia, Rochela began his career at local

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, initially for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. He was one of several new faces called up by first-team manager

Miguel Ángel Lotina Miguel Ángel Lotina Oruechebarría (; born 18 June 1957) is a Spanish professional manager and former footballer who played as a striker. His playing career was spent mostly with Logroñés, whom he represented in the Segunda División, also ...

for a

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

quarter-final second leg on 27 January 2010 against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

, who had won the first match 3–0; he debuted as a 70th-minute substitute for Juca in an inconsequential 1–0 away victory. Rochela made his

bow on 24 April 2010, as a

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

replacement for the injured

Piscu Piscu is a Commune in Romania, commune in Galați County, Western Moldavia, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Piscu and Vameș. References

{{Reflist Communes in Galați County Localities in Western Moldavia ...

in a 1–0 loss at

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

. He then started the next three games in the closing stages of the season. Rochela barely played in the next two years, as Deportivo were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

and then promoted as champions of

. On 20 July 2012, with three years remaining on his ''Depor'' contract, he was loaned to newly-relegated

. He spent the second half of that campaign in his first foreign experience, at

Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club (, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Tel Aviv)'' is an Israeli professional football club based in Tel Aviv that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club's traditional home ground is Bloomfield Stadium. To date, th ...

in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

Thailand

Rochela moved to

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

champions

Buriram United F.C. Buriram United Football Club () is a Thai professional football club based in Buriram. The club has played at the top level of Thai football for the majority of their existence and competes in the Thai League 1. The club was founded in 1970 as P ...

where he won the

Kor Royal Cup Kor Royal Cup (), known as the Yai Cup () until 1963, was the highest level of club football competition which competed in the tournament in Thailand from 1916 to 1995. It was founded by the Football Association of Thailand in 1916. Department of ...

in February 2014 with a 1–0 win over Muangthong United FC. On 2 November that year, he scored a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in a 2–1 home defeat of Police United F.C. to retain the title. On 9 July 2021, Rochela scored again from the spot in a 5–1

Port F.C. Port Football Club (), formerly known as Port Authority of Thailand after its namesake owner, is a Thai professional football club based in Khlong Toei district of central Bangkok. They compete in the Thai League 1 and are one of the most succe ...

victory at

Guangzhou F.C. Guangzhou Football Club (), previously Guangzhou Evergrande (), was a Chinese professional Association football, football club based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Historically, Guangzhou FC played its home matches at various grounds in their home ci ...

in the group stage of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

. It was his first goal in a continental competition. In May 2023, Rochela announced his retirement at age 33.

International career

Rochela was part of the Spain squad at the

2007 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship 2007 Final Tournament was held in Belgium from 2 to 13 May 2007. Top-five teams (two best places from each group plus winner of playoff between third-placed teams) qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007 ...

, winning the tournament in Belgium. The same year, they finished second at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

held in South Korea.

Career statistics

Honours

Deportivo *

: 2011–12 Buriram United *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Port *

Thai FA Cup The Thai FA Cup (), known officially as The Football Association of Thailand Cup, is a football cup competition in Thailand. Thai FA Cup is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic football. It was held between 1974 a ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Spain U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

runner-up:

References

External links

Deportivo official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochela, David 1990 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from As Pontes de García Rodríguez Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Deportivo Fabril players Deportivo de La Coruña players Racing de Santander players Israeli Premier League players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players David Rochela David Rochela David Rochela Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Thailand