Ricardo Cabanas-Rey (born 17 January 1979) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played 51 international matches for the Switzerland national team.

Club career

Born in Zürich, Cabanas started his career with

Grasshoppers Zürich Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshoppe ...

and played there for several seasons, winning two league titles, before moving to

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

. During this period, he also enjoyed a loan spell at

En Avant de Guingamp En Avant Guingamp (, en, Forward Guingamp), commonly referred to as EA Guingamp, EAG, or simply Guingamp (), is a professional football club based in the commune of Guingamp in France's Brittany region. The club was founded in 1912 and play in ...

. In June 2007, 1. FC Köln announced that Cabanas was to return to his previous club Grasshoppers for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Cabanas is a member of the Switzerland national team and was called up to the squad which participated in the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

and the Euro 2008. At the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

he missed a spot-kick during his side's penalty shootout against Ukraine, who emerged victorious. Cabanas has also played for the (non-official) Galicia national team against Iran and against Uruguay.

Personal life

His father, also called Ricardo Cabanas, played for Bellinzona, and for SC Kriens in the 1980–81 season. His brother, Christian Cabanas Rey, also briefly played in the professional league. His cousin, Raúl Cabanas, played with Ricardo at Grasshoppers. He has two children with his wife Deby.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabanas, Ricardo 1979 births Living people Swiss people of Galician descent Swiss people of Spanish descent Spanish people of Swiss descent Footballers from Zürich Association football midfielders Swiss footballers Swiss expatriate footballers Switzerland under-21 international footballers Switzerland international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in France En Avant Guingamp players 1. FC Köln players Grasshopper Club Zürich players Swiss Super League players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France