Rodolfo Alves de Melo (born 19 March 1991), simply known as Rodolfo, is a Brazilian

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Oeste, on loan from

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, ...

Club career

Born in

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints'') is a municipality in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese nobleman Brás Cubas. It is located mostly on the island of São Vicente, which harbors both the city of Santos and the city of São ...

, Rodolfo joined

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 ...

's youth setup in 2011, aged 20. He was promoted to the main squad in the following year, being one of the five goalkeepers in the roster. Rodolfo made his professional debut on 19 May 2012, starting in a 4–1 away win against

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

, for the Série B championship. He appeared in three further matches during the campaign, which ended in promotion. In July 2012, Rodolfo was suspended for 30 days after failing a doping exam, being later revealed that due to the use of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

. He later admitted being a drug dependent, and was interned in a rehabilitation clinic. Rodolfo was caught in a second exam in August 2012. After being suspended from football for two years, he returned to action in September 2013, however. After returning from his ban, Rodolfo was included in ''Furacão's'' under-23 squad, being appointed captain of the side in January 2014. On 2 December of that year, he was loaned to Ferroviária until the end of

Campeonato Paulista Série A2 Campeonato Paulista Série A2 is the second level of the São Paulo state professional football championship, one of the Brazilian state championships. This tournament is played by 16 teams, in which the two best teams are promoted to Série A1 ...

. Rodolfo was an undisputed starter for ''Ferrinha'', which returned to São Paulo's top level after a 19-year absence. On 7 October 2015 he signed a new contract with Atlético, running until 2018.

Honours

Ferroviária *

: 2015

References

External links

Atlético Paranaense profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodolfo 1991 births Living people Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Campeonato Brasileiro Série C players Paraná Clube players Club Athletico Paranaense players Associação Ferroviária de Esportes players Fluminense FC players Oeste Futebol Clube players Brazilian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in association football