Renaldo Lopes da Cruz (born 19 March 1970), known simply as Renaldo, 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 ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Football career

Born in

Cotegipe Cotegipe (former Campo Largo) is a microregion and a municipality in the Brazilian state of Bahia in the north-east region of Brazil. Part of the Extremo Oeste Baiano mesoregion, the town was founded in 1820 and had a population of 13,769 as of ...

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

, Renaldo played for more than 15 different clubs in his country, most notably for

Clube Atlético Mineiro Clube Atlético Mineiro (), commonly known as Atlético Mineiro or Atlético, and colloquially as Galo (, "Rooster"), is the largest professional football club based in the city of Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mi ...

. During his entire career, he missed only two penalty kicks – both in the same match, a 3–0 home win against

Figueirense Futebol Clube Figueirense Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Figueirense, is a Brazilian professional club based in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina founded on 12 June 1921. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, the third tier of Brazilian f ...

– and left for Spain in 1996 to sign with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

. Also during that year, he earned his sole

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the Brazil national team. Upon his arrival in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, Renaldo said, while describing himself as a player: "I am like

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

, but with an "e"". However, he grossly failed to live up to expectations, also spending time with three other teams in the country (all in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

). In the following decade, a humorous Spanish website called ''Renaldinhos y Pavones'' was created, containing anecdotes on several national and foreign players which caught the eye for various reasons.Renaldinhos y Pavoves
(in Spanish) In 2002, Renaldo returned to his country to play for

América Futebol Clube (MG) América Futebol Clube (also known as América Mineiro, Coelho or simply América) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Belo Horizonte, capital city of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Founded in 1912, the club preserves its nam ...

. He continued to represent clubs in quick succession (he also had another spell abroad, in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

for

FC Seoul FC Seoul ( ko, FC 서울) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul that competes in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The club is owned by GS Sports, a subsidiary of GS Group. They play their home games ...

), and finished his career in his 40s playing amateur football.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Renaldo 1970 births Living people Brazilian footballers Association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Club Athletico Paranaense players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Paraná Clube players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Clube Náutico Capibaribe players Brasiliense Futebol Clube players La Liga players Segunda División players Deportivo de La Coruña players UD Las Palmas players UE Lleida players CF Extremadura footballers K League 1 players FC Seoul players Brazil international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in South Korea Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea