Fabio Pereira

Fabio Pereira da Cruz is a professional football player from Brazil who plays as a defender. After spending two years at the Santos youth system, Pereira made his way into the first team in 2001. Over the next four seasons, he would play around 28 games, spending most of his time on the substitute’s bench. Out of those four seasons, Pereira went out on loan to Gaziantepspor, in Turkey, and played 13 games for the European side. In 2002, he was a part of the Serie A title winning team even though his role was quite minimal in the overall outcome of the league.

After his stint at Santos, Pereira made his way to Vasco da Gama but spent most of his time warming the bench. He played just two games throughout the entire season before moving onto Portuguesa in 2005. His playing time didn’t change much and spending most of his time with the reserve team meant that Pereira would only get onto the pitch once, in the league, for the club. He moved to Gremio at the end of 2005 and began his rise up to the regular playing spots in the three years he would spend at the club.

In 2005, the year that Pereira would join Gremio, he would become a part of the team that won the 2005 Serie B title. He began working harder on the bench and started making substitute appearances. In 2006 and 2007, he became a sort of regular member of the first team for the state league and helped the team win the Rio Grande do Sul State League title in 2006 and 2007.

Towards the end of his stint, Pereira had made himself a permanent member of the first team at Gremio, with 38 appearances and 3 goals to his name. In 2009, he moved to Coritiba and helped the team win the 2010 Serie B title. He played 43 games for the team, scoring six goals, and shared the starting spot with his teammates. Today, Pereira is an important member of a first team that boasts of many strong central defenders who are rotated with regularity.