Rodrigo Gral (born 21 February 1977) is a Brazilian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

Career

Gral has played in Japan and made his

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

debut for

Júbilo Iwata is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...

against

Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club, which plays in the J1 League. The team is based in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. The club name of "Consadole" is made from ''consado'', a reverse of the Japanese word and the Spanish expression ...

on 17 March 2002, and marked the occasion in front of the home crowd at

Yamaha Stadium is a football stadium located in Iwata, Shizuoka, Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, owned by Yamaha Motors, next to whose plant it is located, and was purpose-designed for use with soccer and rugby union. It is the home ground for the J1 ...

by scoring a goal. He has been one of the most prolific goalscorers in the J1 League since he came to Japan in 2002, having scored at a rate of more than a goal every two games. Before joining

, Gral previously played in his native Brazil for Grêmio, Juventude,

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

, and

Sport Recife Sport Club do Recife, (; known as Sport Recife or Sport, is a Brazilian sports club, located in the city of Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Founded in 1905, the club currently plays in Série B. In football, the club has w ...

. He also utilized Roberto Assis as his agent for a period of time. Gral has represented

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 ...

in the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams that ...

. He scored once in the finals, against

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gral, Rodrigo 1977 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazil under-20 international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Qatar CR Flamengo footballers Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Sport Club do Recife players Esporte Clube Juventude players Esporte Clube Bahia players Santa Cruz Futebol Clube players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players Júbilo Iwata players Yokohama F. Marinos players Omiya Ardija players J1 League players Brazilian people of German descent Al Sadd SC players DPMM FC players Association football forwards People from Chapecó Qatar Stars League players FC Djursland players Sportspeople from Santa Catarina (state)