Rafael António Figueiredo Ramos (born 9 January 1995) is a Portuguese 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 ...

who plays as a full back for Brazilian club

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

. Formed at Sporting and Benfica, he spent his early professional career in the United States with Orlando City and Chicago Fire in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. After winning the Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

with

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germ ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, he spent three years in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

with Santa Clara before joining

Club career

Early years

Born in Santa Marinha,

Seia Seia () is a municipality in Guarda District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 21,755, in an area of . Its urban population is about 7,000. Seia was elevated to city status on July 3, 1986. The municipality is situated on the northwestern slo ...

Guarda District The district of Guarda ( pt, Distrito de Guarda ) is located in the Centro Region of Portugal, except Vila Nova de Foz Côa, which is in the Norte Region. The district capital and most populous city is Guarda. Municipalities The district conta ...

, Ramos started out his career with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

before being released in 2012. He then joined Real S.C. for one year before moving to

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

's youth system in 2013, where he joined the under-19 squad. He was part of the squad that competed in the 2013–14 UEFA Youth League. On 5 May 2014, Ramos signed a contract to stay with Benfica until 2020.

Orlando City

On 8 July 2014, Ramos and Benfica teammate

Estrela Estrela, Portuguese for "star", may refer to: Animals *Estrela Mountain Dog, a breed of working dog native to the range * Phyllonorycter estrela, a moth of the family Gracillariidae Geography Portugal * Serra da Estrela Subregion, a NUTS3 statist ...

were transferred to

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

of the

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

, the third level of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

, on 3-year professional contracts as part of an affiliation between the two clubs. The contracts would include the remainder of the

2014 USL Pro season The 2014 USL Pro season was the fourth USL Pro season and the 28th season of third-division soccer in the United States. Teams Antigua Barracuda FC and VSI Tampa Bay FC folded following the 2013 season and were replaced by Sacramento Republi ...

before the team joined

in 2015. The pair made their professional debuts on 23 August against

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

, in which Ramos scored a 70th-minute winner in a 3–2 away victory. Head coach

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He currently serves as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC. As a player, he is best known for his six seasons at Everton, where h ...

said of them after the game, "I thought that the two new players (Estrela and Ramos) were outstanding, considering that they haven't played for two or three weeks. Their contribution was massive..." Ramos played in Orlando's first MLS game on 8 March 2015, a 1–1 home draw with fellow

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

. He was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

twice over the season, for a foul on

Waylon Francis Waylon Dwayne Francis Box (; born 20 September 1990) is a Costa Rican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back for Costa Rican club C.S. Herediano, C. S. Herediano and the ...

in a 3–0 loss at

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

on 19 April, and a 36th-minute challenge on Justin Morrow in a 5–0 loss at

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

on 22 August. He totalled 39 MLS appearances for Orlando and assisted five goals. On 4 June 2017, making his first start of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

and only his third in the past 12 months due to hamstring injuries, he lasted 26 minutes before another

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

in a goalless draw with

Chicago Fire SC (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

at the

Citrus Bowl The Citrus Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Cheez-It Bowl and Florida Classic. The gam ...

Chicago Fire

On 18 January 2018, Ramos was traded to Chicago Fire in exchange for the rights to Cameron Lindley and $100,000 of Targeted Allocation Money. He made his debut on 17 March in a 2–1 loss at

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Socc ...

, one of only five games during his time in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, three in the league and two in the U.S. Open Cup.

Twente

On 6 August 2018, Chicago and Ramos mutually agreed to part ways. Later that day, Dutch team

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

signed him on a one-year contract with the option of a second. He helped the team win the

2018–19 Eerste Divisie The 2018–19 Eerste Divisie, known as Keuken Kampioen Divisie for sponsorship reasons, was the sixty-third season of Eerste Divisie since its establishment in 1955. It began in August 2018 and ended in May 2019 with the returns of the finals of t ...

title and promotion back to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

Santa Clara

On 2 July 2019, Ramos returned to his native Portugal to sign with

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

of the

Corinthians

On 12 April 2022, Ramos went to Brazil to sign a two-year deal with

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista Sport Club Corinthians Paulista () is a Brazilian sports club based in the Tatuapé district of São Paulo. Although competing in a number of different sports, Corinthians is mostly known for its professional association football team that plays ...

, under compatriot manager Vítor Pereira. He made his debut in the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

four days later, starting in a 3–0 home win over

Avaí FC Avaí Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian football team from Florianópolis in Santa Catarina, founded on 1 September 1923. Their home stadium is Estádio Aderbal Ramos da Silva, also known as Ressacada, with a capacity of 17,800. They play in b ...

and being praised by the coach.

Personal life

Ramos holds a U.S. green card which qualified him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honours

;Benfica *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

: Runner-up 2013–14 ; FC Twente *

: Champions 2018–19

References

External links

* * *
National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramos, Rafael 1995 births Living people People from Seia Sportspeople from Guarda District Portuguese footballers Association football defenders S.L. Benfica footballers Orlando City SC (2010–2014) players Orlando City SC players Orlando City B players Chicago Fire FC players FC Twente players C.D. Santa Clara players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players Eerste Divisie players Primeira Liga players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Brazil Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Portugal youth international footballers