Raphael Rossi Branco (born 25 July 1990), sometimes known as Raphael or Raphael Rossi, 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, rugby le ...

who plays as a

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 s ...

for Polish club

Radomiak Radom Radomiak Spółka Akcyjna (''Radomiak S.A.''), commonly known as Radomiak Radom, is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Radom, Poland. The club was founded in 1910 and competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Football in Poland ...

. He began his career with

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

and moved to Europe in 2011 to join

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, and then nearby

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally ...

, where he won the 2012–13 Isthmian League. He then signed for

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

, playing 131 official matches and scoring seven goals for the

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club before joining Boavista in 2017 and

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Pl ...

a year later.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Rossi debuted professionally for

and was spotted by an agent who was friend of

Gus Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer. He is currently the head coach of the Greece national football team. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his caree ...

, then

manager. He went on a trial for the English club and an offer to sign for the team was stalled until the player could get an

Italian passport An Italian passport is issued upon request to an Italian citizen for the purpose of international travel. It is valid for 10, 5 or 3 years, depending on the applicant's age. Its biometric version has been available since 2006. It is ranked as ...

. After that, Brighton demanded a statement from Branco's former youth clubs in which they would not receive future compensation, otherwise the club would have to pay £200,000 to register him, which meant he would be released. After unsuccessful trials in Europe and Brazil, he went to play again in England for

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

-based club

. Since he was signing for a non-professional club, he did not need any agreement with his former clubs and could move to other clubs for free. With Whitehawk, Rossi won the 2012–13 Isthmian League.

Swindon Town

On 2 August 2013, he joined

on a one year-deal after impressing on a pre-season trip to Portugal after being invited by a former Brighton & Hove Albion assistant. He was first called up for a matchday squad on 31 August, remaining unused as Swindon won 5–0 at the County Ground in a

game against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. He made his debut on 8 October in the second round of the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

, playing the entirety of a 2–1 victory over

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

team

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. On 29 December he made his first league appearance, replacing the injured Grant Hall in the 53rd minute of a 1–1 draw away to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. He was given his first league start on 14 January 2014, playing the full 90 minutes of a 0–2 loss away to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. In total he played 18 matches over his first season, 15 of which were in the league. He signed a new one-year contract on 30 June 2014. On 30 August, he scored the first goal of his professional career, heading from

Nathan Byrne Nathan William Byrne (born 5 June 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays for Charlotte FC. He can play as either a wing back or a right-back. Byrne began his professional career with Tottenham but never made a first team appear ...

's cross to equalise in a 1–1 home league draw against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. In December, having previously been told that he had played his last game, he signed a further contract. Rossi scored again on 7 February 2015, opening the scoring from John Swift's pass in a 2–0 home win over

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

which put Swindon into second place in League One. He scored the only goal on 14 March to win away at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, heading in

Harry Toffolo Harry Stefano Toffolo (born 19 August 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Premier League club Nottingham Forest. Career Norwich City Toffolo was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, and grew up in Wat ...

's corner in the eighth minute. Rossi was an unused substitute on 24 May as Swindon lost 0–4 to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

in the play-off final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Swindon were relegated in Rossi's final season, 2016–17. On 8 October 2016, he was sent off for elbowing

Lawrie Wilson Lawrie Robert Wilson (born 11 September 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a right-back for club Billericay Town. Wilson started his career at Charlton Athletic, and played regularly for the club's under-18 and reserve teams until he ...

in a 1–0 home loss to

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 ...

Boavista

On 16 June 2017, Rossi signed a two-year deal with

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, ...

club Boavista. He made his debut on 20 August in a 1–0 loss at Marítimo, and scored his first goal for them a week later, the game's only in a home victory against

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

FC Sion

In June 2018, Rossi signed a three-year deal with Swiss club

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

Loan to Radomiak Radom

On 1 February 2021, Rossi moved to

I liga I liga ( pl, Pierwsza liga, ), currently named Fortuna I liga due to its sponsorship by Fortuna, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga vi ...

club

, on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Radomiak Radom

In July 2021, Rossi signed a permanent contract with

having completed a successful loan spell.

Playing style

In addition to central defence, Rossi can play at right-back and

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

. His favourite player is compatriot defender

David Luiz David Luiz Moreira Marinho (born 22 April 1987) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Flamengo. Primarily a centre back, he can also be deployed as a defensive midfielder. After starting out at Vitoria, David Luiz moved to Ben ...

Personal life

His older brother

Igor Igor may refer to: People * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name * Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler * Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling * ...

, also a defender, plays for Al-Faisaly in the

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Whitehawk *

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

: 2012–13 ;Radomiak Radom *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

Profile
at the official Ekstraklasa website {{DEFAULTSORT:Rossi, Raphael 1990 births Living people Brazilian people of Italian descent Footballers from Campinas Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Porto Alegre Futebol Clube players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Whitehawk F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Boavista F.C. players FC Sion players Radomiak Radom players Isthmian League players English Football League players Primeira Liga players Swiss Super League players Ekstraklasa players I liga players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal