Raúl Fabiani

Raúl Iván Fabiani Bosio (born 23 February 1984) is an Equatoguinean footballer who plays for Biu Chun Glory Sky as a centre forward.

Club career

Born in Valencia, Spain, Fabiani spent most of his senior career in the lower levels of Spanish football, mainly competing in the Valencian Community. He made his Segunda División debut in the 2011–12 season at the age of already 27, with CD Alcoyano, after having scored 12 Segunda División B goals the previous campaign to help the team return to the second level after an absence of 42 years; his first game in the second level of Spanish football occurred on 22 October 2011 as he came on as a late substitute in a 1–4 home loss against FC Barcelona B,^[1] and he netted his first and second goals in the competition on 27 May of the following year to contribute decisively to a 4–0 home win over Elche CF, but his team had already sealed its relegation.^[2]

Fabiani also represented Villarreal CF B, Moralo CP, CP Cacereño, UD Lanzarote, CD Teruel, Villajoyosa CF and Huracán Valencia CF. On 5 August 2013 the 29-year-old moved teams and countries, signing with Indian club Pune FC.^[3][4]

On 21 September 2013 Fabiani made his debut in the I-League, which was an eventful affair as he scored two goals, provided one assist and was also sent off after 77 minutes of play for a second bookable offense.^[5] He later sustained an injury while playing against Mohun Bagan AC which ruled him out for four months, so on 26 October he was released and replaced by Riga Mustapha,^[6] returning to former club Huracán.

International career

Fabiani was born to an Italian father and an Equatorial Guinean mother related to Edmundo Bossio Dioko, a politician executed during the regime of Macias. On 29 January 2011 he received his first call for Equatorial Guinea,^[7] but he did not play in the friendly match with Congo on 9 February.

The following month Fabiani was called for another exhibition game, this time against Gambia, but again he stayed on the verge of his international debut. These factors led to discomfort at Alcoyano because the club had lost him for four league matches (two for each international match), which led to the organization asking the player to reject international calls for the remainder of the season.^[8] Thus, he rejected to appear for the pre-Olympic national team in two qualifying matches against Nigeria in April 2011.^[9]

Subsequently, Fabiani ceased to be called until Henri Michel, who at the same time gave little importance to the Spanish-born players, resigned from his position as national team coach. After the departure of the Frenchman and before the Brazilian's Gílson Paulo arrival at Malabo as his replacement, the player was included in the preliminary list for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.^[10]

Fabiani did not play in the goalless friendly match with South Africa on 6 January 2012, appearing shortly after in a non-FIFA recognized match against Cameroonian club Coton Sport FC de Garoua. He was confirmed in the roster of 23 players for the CAN tournament, played on home soil,^[11] only being fielded by the eventual quarterfinalists in the last group stage game, a 0–1 loss to Zambia.^[12]

Statistics

As of 8 May 2014^[13][14]

References

External links

• Raúl Fabiani profile at BDFutbol
• Futbolme profile (Spanish)
• Raúl Fabiani at National-Football-Teams.com
• Official website (Spanish)

Equatorial Guinea squads
Equatorial Guinea squad – 2012 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Danilo 2 Evuy 3 Kily 4 Rui 5 Kamissoko 6 Juvenal 7 De la Cruz 8 Randy 9 Bodipo 10 Bolado 11 Balboa 12 Fidjeu 13 Ndongo 14 Konaté 15 Doe 16 Sipo 17 Ekanga 18 Ellong 19 Fabiani 20 Ekedo 21 Pensy 22 Ovono 23 Colin Coach: Gílson Paulo Equatorial Guinea squad – 2015 Africa Cup of Nations Fourth Place 1 Ovono 2 Evuy 3 Igor 4 Rui 5 Mbele 6 Juvenal 7 Belima 8 Randy 9 Fabiani 10 Nsue 11 Balboa 12 Bolado 13 Embela 14 Kike 15 Ibán 16 Sipo 17 Rubén Darío 18 Ellong 19 Charly 20 Miguel Ángel 21 Zarandona 22 Pablo Ganet 23 Mosibe Coach: Becker