Roberto Fabián Ayala (born 14 April 1973 in Paraná) is an Argentinian soccer player, who currently plays for the Spanish team Valencia. He plays in central defence.
On the club level, Ayala has played for Ferrocarril Oeste (1991-94), River Plate (1994-95), Napoli (1995-98), and Milan (1998-2000). Ayala played for Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and was a non-playing squad member in the 2002 edition. He was then an over-age player as Argentina won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
In his club career for Valencia, he reached the final of the 2001 UEFA Champions League, losing it to Bayern Munich on penalties. The next year, the squad won the 2001/02 Spanish La Liga. In the 2003/04 season, they won again the Spanish La Liga and the UEFA Cup (again after 41 years). In the 2004/2005 a couple of injuries kept Ayala from playing most of the Liga, the UEFA Super Cup 2004 victory against Porto, the Spanish Supercup, the UEFA Champions League, and the UEFA Cup. His absences didn't help Valencia's last-season's poor performance.
Roberto Ayala is known to many as one of the best central defenders in the world. He is a leader and captain of his national side. His position with his national team is cemented and was Real Madrid's target signing, but was rejected by the club, and Madrid transfered instead Argentine Walter Samuel, from Italian club AS Roma.
Since his father's name is also Roberto, he prefers to be known as Fabián Ayala.
