Rafael Schmitz (born 17 December 1980) is a Brazilian retired

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 ...

. He was a commanding central defender who was good in the air but also very agile and had good passing ability.

Career

Schmitz started his professional career at Malutrom, winning the 2000 Brazilian 3rd division. In 2001, he joined

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional football club based in Lille, Hauts-de-France that competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Lille has played its ...

, where he spent six seasons and for whom he played 99

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

games and appeared in the Champions League and

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. He joined

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on loan for the 2007–08 season on July 6, 2007. He made his Birmingham debut as a very late substitute on September 15, 2007 against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, and his first start on October 20, 2007 against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in place of the injured

Johan Djourou Danon Issouf Johannes Djourou Gbadjere (; born 18 January 1987), known as Johan Djourou, is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a centre back. According to his profile on the website of his former club Arsenal, Djourou possesses ...

. He returned to Lille following Birmingham's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

at the end of the season. On June 23, 2008, Schmitz signed a three-year contract with

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

, where he played for four years before returning to Brazil and signing for

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

. After being overlooked at the club, he was about to sign for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on September, only for his club to decide against the deal in the last minute after Atlético needed defensive cover due to an injury suffered by

Naldo Naldo may refer to: * Ronaldo Aparecido Rodrigues (born 1982), Brazilian football defender * Edinaldo Gomes Pereira (born 1988), Brazilian football defender * Marinaldo dos Santos Oliveira (born 1990), commonly known as Naldo, Brazilian footballer ...

. However, he only played two matches for Atlético Paranaense and left the club in 2013. In 2018, Schmitz decided to return to professional football and trained with Metropolitano, a club based in his hometown. On 11 May 2018, he signed for the club to play the 2018 Campeonato Catarinense Série B. After achieving promotion to

2019 Campeonato Catarinense The Campeonato Catarinense de Futebol de 2019 da Série A, known as the 2019 Campeonato Catarinense, was the 94th season of Santa Catarina's top-flight football league. The season began on 16 January and ended on 21 April. Avaí won on penalties ...

, he left the club. Schmitz holds both Brazilian and French nationalities.

Honours

Lille *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Notes

External links

* * Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers Men's association football defenders Lille OSC players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players Birmingham City F.C. players Valenciennes FC players Club Athletico Paranaense players Sportspeople from Blumenau 1980 births Living people Premier League players Ligue 1 players Russian Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Footballers from Santa Catarina (state) {{Brazil-footy-defender-1980s-stub