Paulo Roberto Rink (born 21 February 1973) is a former

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. Most commonly known for his time at

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

, the Brazilian-born player earned 13 caps representing

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He retired in 2007.

Club career

Born in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

, Rink began his career playing for Athlético Paranaense. After a solid career with the club, he negotiated with

, and was transferred for US$6 million, the highest transfer fee paid for an Atlético Paranaense player at that time. Rink remained there for four years, barring a six-month break, when he was loaned out to

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

. He played for several other clubs, 1. FC Nürnberg,

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

, Vitesse Arnhem, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors,

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia ( el, Ολυμπιακός Λευκωσίας, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a football club based in Nicosia, Cyprus and competes in the Cypriot First Division. The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the C ...

and Omonia Nicosia. Rink ended his career in Athlético Paranaense, where his career started. His honorary match took place on 24 May 2007 at the

Kyocera Arena Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães, known commonly as Arena da Baixada, is a stadium located in Curitiba, the state capital of Paraná, Brazil. It is the home stadium of Club Athletico Paranaense, and has a capacity of 42,372 people. The sta ...

. Playing in ''Paulo Rink's friends team'' were amongst others: Oséas, his old friend, who from 1995 to 1998 acted as his striking partner at Atlético Paranaense. Also present was the Uruguayan

Gustavo Matosas Gustavo Cristian Matosas Paidón (born 25 May 1967) is an Argentine-born Uruguayan former professional footballer. Playing career Club The son of former footballer Roberto Matosas, Gustavo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1967, as his f ...

, teammate in 1997 and 1998 and Kléberson, who played with him in 1998.

International career

Rink, whose great-grandfather had emigrated from

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

to Brazil in 1904, was naturalized as a German citizen and subsequently called up to the Germany national team by then manager Berti Vogts in September 1998. He was the first Brazilian to play for Germany. The attacker took part in friendlies against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. A year afterwards, while still playing for

, he was once again called up, this time for the

1999 Confederations Cup The 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup was the fourth FIFA Confederations Cup, and the second organised by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Mexico between 24 July and 4 August 1999. It was won by Mexico, who beat Brazil 4–3 in the final. Mexico b ...

in Mexico. He played for Germany in the

2000 UEFA European Championship The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

as well. In total, Rink was able to collect 13 international caps between 1998 and 2000.

References

External links

* * * *
Leverkusen who's who

CBF

Atlético Paranaense who's who
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rink, Paulo 1973 births Living people Footballers from Curitiba Brazilian people of German descent Citizens of Germany through descent German footballers Germany international footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players German expatriate footballers Santos FC players UEFA Euro 2000 players 1. FC Nürnberg players German expatriate sportspeople in South Korea FC Energie Cottbus players Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Olympiakos Nicosia players German expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands German people of Brazilian descent Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Eredivisie players SBV Vitesse players Expatriate footballers in South Korea K League 1 players Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players AC Omonia players Association football forwards Clube Atlético Mineiro players Club Athletico Paranaense players Associação Chapecoense de Futebol players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Bundesliga players Cypriot First Division players