Douglas de Medeiros Rinaldi (born 29 August 1979) is a former

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He retired in 2013.

Career

Born in Erval Seco,

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, Rinaldi started his career at the youth team of

Criciúma Criciúma is a city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. At , it is located 180 km south of Florianópolis, the state capital and around 900 km south of São Paulo. The city is the center of Brazil's flooring and home materials in ...

. After failing to become a professional footballer, Rinaldi decided to quit football. However, after a trial with

Santo Ângelo Santo Ângelo is a municipality located in northwestern Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. It has about 77,568 inhabitants (according to 2020 IBGE estimate) and the total area of the municipality is about 679 km². It borders Giruá to the no ...

, he signed his first professional contract and stayed with the club until 2002 when he joined Italian side

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

. He returned to Brazil in the following year and after acquiring a European passport, Rinaldi spent the following years playing for

based teams with brief overseas spells with

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sa ...

and Apollon Kalamaria. During the January 2007

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, Rinaldi was signed on a six-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

deal by

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

from

ian club

Veranópolis Veranópolis is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. As of 2020, the estimated population was 26,533. Veranópolis, like most of its neighbouring towns, is known as one of the cities with highest standards of living in Brazi ...

. He made his first appearance for Watford in a 3–1 defeat at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

on 17 March 2007, coming on as a substitute. His performance gained praise from Watford

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Aidy Boothroyd Adrian Neil Boothroyd (born 8 February 1971) is an English former footballer who is currently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur. At club level, he was manager of Watford from 2005 to 2008. During his time with Watford, he was r ...

. Rinaldi scored his first professional goal for Watford on 18 April 2007 in another 3–1 defeat, this time to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. On 22 May 2007, Rinaldi signed a two-year contract with Watford for an initial fee of £250,000. He found chances hard to come by since joining on a long term contract and only featured in two of the Hornets' games in the 2007–08 season, which came in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against Gillingham (in which he scored) and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. Rinaldi played in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

during that season but failed to persuade Boothroyd to select him for the first team. On 17 July 2008, Watford terminated Rinaldi's contract with immediate effect. He later returned to Brazil and joined

Ehime FC is a professional football club based in Matsuyama, the capital city of Ehime Prefecture of Japan. After winning the JFL championship in 2005, the club now plays in . History The club was founded in 1970 as Matsuyama Soccer Club and rename ...

in 2010. On 16 April 2010, Rinaldi left the club after only four months and returned to his native Brazil, playing a single match for the club from the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

. He retired from football in 2013 after União Frederiquense failed to achieve promotion to

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

References

External links

* *
ErvalSeco.com

Douglas Rinaldi
at playmakerstats.com (English version of ogol.com.br) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinaldi, Douglas 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Premier League players Watford F.C. players J2 League players Ehime FC players Expatriate footballers in England Brazilian people of Italian descent CE Mataró players Expatriate footballers in Japan Association football midfielders