Fabian Caballero tribute written by Dundee FC Club Historian Kenny Ross.
Fabian Caballero 1978-2024
Everyone at Dundee Football Club was absolutely devastated to learn of the death of former player Fabian Caballero, who passed away aged just 46 after collapsing while playing futsal in Paraguay.
“He came down from heaven, he wear number seven, he’s Fabian Caballero”, was the song sung by the Dundee in support to cult hero Caballero who made 142 appearances for the Dark Blues during two spells between 2000 and 2005 after he had signed for a club record transfer fee, which still stands today.
Fabian Orlando Caballero was born on January 31st, 1978, in Misiones, Argentina, which is surrounded by Paraguay to the north-east. It was in Paraguay that Caballero started his football career with Cerro Porteno in 1997, and it was with ‘Le Ciclon’ that he was spotted by Arsène Wenger who took him on loan to Arsenal for 12 months.
Caballero made just three appearances for The Gunners and his time at Highbury is more remembered for the bizarre incident when Ron Atkinson sat next to him in the wrong dugout in his first home game in charge of Nottingham Forest.
Upon returning to Paraguay, Caballero signed for rivals Club Sol de America but at the end of his first season at the Asuncion club, he was loaned out again to another U.K. club when he joined Dundee FC in the summer of 2000 as part of the ‘Bonetti Revolution.’
Nicknamed ‘Tyson’ at his club in Paraguay, he quickly became known as ‘Fab Cab’ at Dens when the striker turned in some scintillating displays in his first few games. He made his competitive debut in the first game of the season at Motherwell but it was the following week at home to Dunfermline when Fabian really caught the eye.
Playing up front with fellow Argentinean newcomer Juan Sara, the pair looked to have struck up an immediate understanding and both opened their Dark Blue scoring accounts from the spot in a 3-0 win which sent Dundee to the top of the Scottish Premier League.
In the next home game, Caballero scored two stunning strikes against Montrose in the League Cup and the powerfully built forward was emerging as a deadly striker with good technique and a powerful shot.
Unfortunately, this immediately made Fabian a target for the hatchet men and at Easter Road was the victim of a shocking challenge from Mathias Jack after he had opened the scoring for Dundee. While the Hibs man received just a yellow card for his two-footed tackle, Caballero got his marching orders when he finally reacted to a number of disgraceful challenges and a few weeks later received another red card when he was accused of throwing a teapot at the referee’s door at Love Street.
Worse was to follow a few weeks later however in the first derby of the season when a horrendous double challenge from Dundee United’s De Vos and McDonald resulted in Caballero going off with a serious knee injury.
The Dee went on to record a memorable 3-0 win, but it was a victory at a price as Fabian had sustained a ruptured ligament in one knee and a partial tear in the other. He would have to undergo surgery at the Isokinetic Fitness Institute in Bologna and would remain there for a lengthy program of recuperation.
Within weeks Fabian had received over 20 well wishing letters from Dundee fans and on a visit back in November to watch the derby at Tannadice, he was overwhelmed when the fans chanted his name as they watched Dundee win 2-0 over United.
Expected to be out for the remainder of the season, it was a major boost when he returned to the side in April for a vital match against Aberdeen. With his replacement Claudio Caniggia out injured, Caballero returned to the starting line-up and although looking sluggish and over-weight, still managed to score Dundee’s second in a 2-0 win to secure a top six finish in the SPL’s first split.
Caballero got to partner Caniggia just once before he departed for Ibrox and in Dundee’s penultimate game of the season ‘Fab Cab’ scored both goals in a 2-0 win over league champions Celtic at Parkhead.
With Caballero due to return to Paraguay at the end of his loan period, Dundee decided that they had seen enough on his return from injury that they shelled out a club record fee of £600,000 to make his move from Sol de America permanent.
Almost immediately Caballero was straight back in action when The Dee kicked off their season on June 16th in the UEFA Intertoto Cup against FK Sartid of Yugoslavia. After a turgid 0-0 draw at Dens, Caballero gave Dundee the lead in the 2nd leg in Smederevo when he cleverly chested home a head flick from Gavin Rae. However, it was a case of déjà vu when he was targeted for some rough treatment and after the referee awarded the Yugoslavs two suspect penalties, Caballero was sent off for retaliation as the Sartid players went unpunished.
It was a costly red card for Cab as he was given a three-match suspension for future UEFA competitions and with Dundee going down 5-2 in the end, he would have to wait until Dundee were in the UEFA Cup two years later to serve it.
Throughout his second season Caballero struggled with his weight and fitness but that was all to change when new manager Jim Duffy put Fabian on a strict fitness regime and the side started to see the best of the Argentinean.
The man from Misiones seemed like a ‘man of a mission’ and scored in the first game of the season before repeatedly outing in man of the match performances throughout the campaign. In November he supplanted his legendary status when he scored a brace in a 3-2 win over United at Dens and in the New Year was a key man as the Dark Blues embarked on ‘The Road to Hampden’.
Having knocked out Premier League sides Partick Thistle and Aberdeen in the early rounds of the Scottish Cup, Dundee were then taken to a replay by First Division leaders Falkirk in which Caballero scored a vital equaliser to take the tie into extra time before a 4-1 win.
Dundee progressed to the final where their opponents were to be league champions Rangers but before that, the sides were due to meet in the SPL at Dens. Two beautiful long-range strikes from Fabian earned The Dee a 2-2 draw in which Rangers were awarded three penalties and missed two and they showed the Ibrox men that they would have a game on their hands the following month.
Cab’s second strike was voted goal of the season at the Dundee Supporter’s Association Player of the Year Dinner the week before the final where he also picked up a clutch of Player of the Year awards but there was to be no fairytale ending at Hampden as Rangers ran out 1-0 winners as Caballero had to postpone his wedding for a week as it had been due to take place on Cup Final day.
There was some consolation for Dundee as they qualified for the UEFA Cup as Rangers were going into the Champions League, but Caballero missed Dundee’s trip to Albania because of the suspension he picked up in the Intertoto Cup. He also missed the 1st leg at home to Perugia in the next round but returned for the 2nd leg in Italy where The Dee went out 3-1 on aggregate.
Less than a month later there was more disappointment for Fabian as he was one of 25 Dens Park employees axed when the club went into Administration. It wasn’t the end for Dundee and Caballero however when he returned to Dens in November 2004 after a deal was struck for the Dee4Life Fans’ Trust to pay £10,000 towards his wages to sign him until the end of the season.
Caballero’s appearance gave the weary fans a huge lift and his second game saw him involved in another victory over United.
However, Dundee were toiling under the weight of all the cutbacks and at the end of the season were relegated to the First Division and Fabian was once again victim to DFC cost cutting.
His time at Dens will always be fondly remembered by the Dundee support whose only regret with ‘Fab Cab’ is not to see how brilliant a player he could have become without his long-term injury when he would undoubtedly been worth a seven figure fee.
Fabian got to pull on a Dundee shirt twice more when he lined up for The Dee in Julián Speroni’s testimonial at Crystal Palace in 2015 and was given a fantastic reception by the Dundee support last year when he returned to Dens to play in Cammy Kerr’s testimonial.
It is a tragedy that Fabian passed away at such a young age and he was given a minute’s applause before yesterday’s match against Aberdeen. Having ‘come down in heaven’ to be part of the fabulous ‘Tayzuzzi’ side 24 years ago, he returns there with a Dark Blue around his neck having left us with some fantastic memories with his 26 goals in 142 appearances.
We will miss you Fabian and the thoughts of everyone at Dundee Football Club are with his family and friends at this very sad time.
