Sebastián Alejandro Roco Melgarejo (born 26 June 1983) is a Chilean former

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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Career

Roco began his football career aged 17 at the professional club of his city,

Unión San Felipe Unión San Felipe is a Chilean football club, their hometown is San Felipe in the V Región of Valparaíso. They play in the second level of the Chilean football league, the Primera B. The club was founded on October 16, 1956 with the merger ...

of Chile's first division. In January 2003, he moved to

Santiago Wanderers Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers is a football club based in Valparaíso, a founding member of the Chilean Football Federation. Their home ground, Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, is in the north-west of the city. Wanderers have played their ...

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

, in where he was consecrated as

, scored 12 goals in 95 appearances and being many times in the nominations of the

Chile national football team The Chile national football team (), nicknamed ''La Roja'' (), represents Chile in men's international Association football, football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation of Chile, Federación de Fútbol de Chile (), which ...

, but the end of this was when he was marginated of the team on 14 November 2007. However, despite his bad moment, in January 2008, his rights were acquired by the Mexican club

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

, being immediately loaned to

Audax Italiano Audax Club Sportivo Italiano () is a Chilean football club based in La Florida playing in the Campeonato Nacional, having has spent most of its history in the top tier of Chilean football. History The club was founded by Italian residents in S ...

for play the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

of that year. After a regular season in the club of La Florida, he moved to the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

club Gimnasia de Jujuy for an undisclosed fee. Roco made his debut in a 4–0 away loss against

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

La Bombonera La Bombonera (; , named after its resemblance to a chocolate box, per Viktor Sulčič), officially known as Alberto José Armando Stadium (, ; named after Alberto Armando), is an association football stadium located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

, playing the full 90 minutes. On 1 July 2009, was confirmed his return to the Chilean football, because Everton signed him for the Clausura Tournament of that season. The next season, was signed by

Cobreloa Club de Deportes Cobreloa S.A.D.P. (), commonly referred to as Cobreloa, is a professional Chilean football league system, Chilean football club based in Calama, Chile, Calama, Región de Antofagasta, Chile. They compete in the Primera B de Ch ...

, in where he was one of the key players of the runner-up earned in the 2011 Clausura Tournament lost against

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

that in the season achieved the treble after of defeat to Cobreloa. On 2 March 2012, was reported that

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

would be interested in the services of the centre back. Roco played internationally against the

in the

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The c ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, being call-up in that occasion by Nelson Acosta. He has played six times and scored one goal for the national team in his first match with Chile on 25 April 2006, in a 4–1 win over

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on 24 April 2006.

International goals

Personal life

Roco belongs to a football family from San Felipe since both his father, Marcial, and his son, Bastián, played for

. In addition, the cousin of Marcial, Héctor Roco Lucero, is a historical player of Unión San Felipe and was the assistant coach of his son, Héctor Roco Leiva, from 2020 to 2021.

Honours

Club

;Cobreloa *

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

(1): Runner-up 2011 Clausura ;Universidad de Concepción *

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

(1): 2014–15

References

External links

Roco at Football Lineups
* at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Roco, Sebastian 1983 births Living people Footballers from San Felipe, Chile Chilean men's footballers 21st-century Chilean sportsmen Chile men's international footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Unión San Felipe footballers Santiago Wanderers footballers Deportes Temuco footballers Club Necaxa footballers Audax Italiano footballers Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy footballers Everton de Viña del Mar footballers C.D. Cobreloa footballers C.D. Universidad de Concepción footballers Deportes Melipilla footballers Primera B de Chile players Chilean Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico 2007 Copa América players Men's association football defenders