Rafael Cabral Barbosa (born 20 May 1990), known as Rafael Cabral or simply Rafael, is a Brazilian 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, rugb ...

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 ...

for Cruzeiro.

Club career

Santos

Born in

Sorocaba Sorocaba () is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Sorocaba is the eighth-largest city in the state of São Paulo. Outside the Greater São Paulo region, it ranks behind only Campinas, São José dos Campos and Ribeirão Preto. ...

, Rafael joined Santos youth system in 2003. In 2010, he was promoted to the first team, but broke his right leg in a split with the

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

Domingos and sidelined for four months. Rafael played in the second half of the match between Santos and the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

in the United States. It was won by Red Bull by 3–1 but Rafael did not concede a goal, the three goals from New York were scored in the first half, when the goalkeeper was

Fábio Costa Fabio Costa (born 27 November 1977 in Camaçari, Bahia) is a former Brazilian goalkeeper. Career Costa played for Brazil under-23 and won the 1996 Toulon Tournament and the 2000 South American Pre-Olympic Tournament. He was part of the Brazi ...

. His debut in the first team for Santos in an official game took place on 2 June 2010, the match between Santos and Cruzeiro in Mineirão, where the score was 0–0. He took the place of Felipe, who had played all previous 37 matches that season. On 20 August 2012, Rafael Cabral's right eye started bleeding when he collided with

Juan Manuel Martínez Juan Manuel Martínez (born October 25, 1985), nicknamed ''Burrito'' (in English, "Little Donkey"), is an Argentine football forward who plays for Almirante Brown. He also holds a Portuguese passport. Martínez is best known for his agility, p ...

in a

2012 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2012 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (known as the Brasileirão Petrobras 2012 for sponsorship reasons) was the 56th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top-level of professional football in Brazil. Corinthians come in as the ...

fixture between Santos and

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-author ...

. He then recovered and was able to continue the game. Santos won the game 3–2.

Napoli

On 28 June 2013, Rafael was sold from Santos to Italian side Napoli. The '' Azzurri'' paid €5 million for the Brazilian goalkeeper. Rafael made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

debut against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

in a group stage match in Naples. Napoli won the match 2–0 and Rafael was able to keep a clean sheet against the English side. Nevertheless, Napoli was unable to advance out of the group stages. He was manager Rafael Benítez's first-choice goalkeeper for the 2014–15 season following the departure of the loaned-in

Pepe Reina José Manuel "Pepe" Reina Páez (; born 31 August 1982) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Villarreal. The son of famed Barcelona and Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina, Pepe Reina began his ...

. On 22 December, in the

2014 Supercoppa Italiana The 2014 Supercoppa Italiana was the 27th edition of the Supercoppa Italiana, Italian football supercup, played on 22 December 2014 at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. It was held between 2013–14 Serie A champions, Juventus, and the ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

, he gave Napoli victory over

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

by saving from Simone Padoin in sudden death at the end of a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Sampdoria

On 22 July 2018, Rafael Cabral signed with

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

on a free transfer. On 5 August 2019, Sampdoria announced that Rafael Cabral’s contract with the club had been terminated by mutual agreement.

Reading

On 6 August 2019,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

announced the signing of Rafael on a three-year contract. Rafael made his debut against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

and saved two penalties in the penalty shootout win. Rafael made his Sky Bet Championship debut against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and gained his first clean sheet for the club in a 3–0 victory. He then went on to claim the No. 1 spot, beating out Everton loanee João Virginia and Sam Walker. Rafael’s heroics during consecutive games in the month of December earned him a spot on WhoScored.com Team of the Month for December 2019. On 22 July 2020, ahead of the final game of the 2019–20 season, Rafael was announced as the clubs player of the season. On 17 January 2022, Rafael left Reading after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Cruzeiro

On 19 January 2022, Rafael returned to Brazil after 9 years in Europe, signing for Série B club Cruzeiro on a two-year contract.

International career

Rafael made his debut for

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 ...

against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on 30 May 2012, in a 4–1 win. He was called up to the

Brazil national under-23 football team The Brazil Olympic football team (also known as Brazil under-23, Brazil U23) represents Brazil in international football competitions during Olympic Games and Pan American Games. The selection is limited to players under the age of 23, except th ...

at the London

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

but was later replaced due to injury.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Santos * São Paulo State League:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de P ...

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club football competition organized by ...

Napoli *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2013–14 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

Cruzeiro * Campeonato Brasileiro - Série B:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Individual *

Player of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

sambafoot

Rafael Cabral in Brazil: the talent factory 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Rafael 1990 births Living people People from Sorocaba Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Association football goalkeepers Santos FC players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players S.S.C. Napoli players U.C. Sampdoria players Reading F.C. players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Serie A players English Football League players Brazil international footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Footballers from São Paulo (state)