Raffael Caetano de Araújo (born 28 March 1985), known as simply Raffael, 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 ...

who plays 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 ...

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He last played for

Pohronie FK Pohronie is a Slovak football team, based in the town of Žiar nad Hronom. The club currently competes in 2. Liga. The 2019/20 season was the first time in the club's history that the team played in Fortuna Liga, the highest level of the S ...

of the

Fortuna Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, h ...

Career

Early career in Switzerland

left, upRaffael playing for Hertha BSC in 2009 Born in

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the ...

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of th ...

, Raffael moved still in his teens to Switzerland, first representing lowly

FC Chiasso FC Chiasso is a Swiss football club based in Chiasso. It was founded in 1905. Chiasso also played in the Italian first league between 1914 and 1923. The team's most glorious period was between 1948 and 1961, when the team was promoted to the ...

. At age 20, he moved to

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles ...

, being instrumental in the club's 2005–06 and 2006–07 league conquests; during both seasons, he led the competition in assists, while also adding 40 goals during his two-and-a-half-year spell.

Hertha BSC

In mid-January 2008, Raffael signed with German outfit

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

, being reunited with former Zürich teammates

Lucien Favre Lucien Favre (; born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who currently manages club Nice. Favre was a playmaker for various Swiss and French clubs, the longest for Servette, with whom he also won the cham ...

and

Steve von Bergen Steve von Bergen (born 10 June 1983) is a retired Swiss professional footballer who played as defender. He played for FC Zürich for two full seasons, winning the Swiss Super League in both campaigns and then moved to Hertha BSC, playing there ...

(respectively manager and player). His first game in the Bundesliga was on 2 February, in a 0–3 home defeat against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

; the following matchday, at

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. Vf ...

, he netted his first goal, as Hertha won it 3–1. Making 140 appearances over four and a half years, Raffael experienced both the high and low points of the Berlin-based club's recent history, including a fourth-place finish 2008–09 season, in which Hertha lead the table for some time, and relegations in 2009–10 and 2011–12. On 27 July 2012, Raffael left the club to sign for

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offic ...

Borussia Mönchengladbach

On 20 June 2013, he left

to sign for

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

. On 25 June 2020, the sports director of Borussia Mönchengladbach

Max Eberl Max Eberl (born 21 September 1973) is a German former professional footballer and current executive who works as RB Leipzig's director of sport. Playing career Born in Bogen, Eberl's career as a professional footballer began in 1991 as a defen ...

confirmed that the contract of Raffael would not be renewed.

FK Pohronie

On 19 October 2021, after over a year without club affiliation, Raffael signed with

of the

, with the club last in the league rankings at the time of his arrival. Following his arrival in the

Žiar nad Hronom Žiar nad Hronom (slang: Žiar, german: link=no, Heiligenkreuz, hu, Garamszentkereszt; until 1920 ''Svätý Kríž'' and until 1955 ''Svätý Kríž nad Hronom'') is a city in Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia. Name development The name of the ...

-based club, Raffael had highlighted his desire to continue enjoying football and entertaining the fans, as well as aiding the struggling club. In return, Favre highlighted Raffael as a great asset to the team and the entire league. Raffael was however released after just three games during the winter break.

Personal life

Raffael's younger brother,

Ronny Ronny is a given name, sometimes a short form (hypocorism) of Ryan. It may refer to: * Ronny (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo * Ronny (footballer, born 1991), Brazilian footballer Ronieri da Silva Pin ...

, is also a professional footballer. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he represented most notably

, for whom he has played more than 100 games. From 2010 to 2012, the brothers played together for Hertha. As of 2015, Raffael was studying to be a member of

Jehova's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

FC Zürich *

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 seaso ...

: 2005–06, 2006–07 Hertha BSC *

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raffael Caetano De Araujo 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Fortaleza Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Association football midfielders FC Chiasso players FC Zürich players Hertha BSC players FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Schalke 04 players Borussia Mönchengladbach players FK Pohronie players Swiss Challenge League players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Ukrainian Premier League players Slovak Super Liga players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Slovakia Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia