Rovérsio Rodrigues de Barros (born 17 January 1984), known simply as Rovérsio, is a Brazilian former 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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Football career

Born in

Igarassu, Pernambuco Igarassu (or Igaraçu) is a city in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. It is the second-oldest city of the country and is situated on the north coast of the metropolitan region of Recife, approximately . It stands as one of the earliest European ...

, Rovérsio started playing with

Santa Cruz Futebol Clube Santa Cruz Futebol Clube is a Brazilian professional football club based in Recife, Pernambuco, that competes in the Série D, the fourth tier of Brazilian football, and in the Campeonato Pernambucano, the top flight of the Pernambuco stat ...

, moving abroad in the 2004–05 season to Portugal's Gil Vicente F.C. and making his

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

debut on 28 August 2004 in a 2–3 away loss against

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. During three years (

the last The Last may refer to: * The Last (band), Los Angeles power pop band active since 1976 * ''The Last'' (audio drama), a ''Doctor Who'' audio drama released in 2004 * ''The Last'' (album), 2009 album by Aventura *"The Last", a song by The Replaceme ...

spent in the second division), he was an important defensive element. In 2007, Rovérsio signed a one-year contract with F.C. Paços de Ferreira, moving the following campaign to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

. On 13 November 2008, he suffered a serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury in a

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

against

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

, which rendered him unavailable for nearly one year. After recovering, Rovérsio was only the fourth-choice stopper, and appeared in just three games in the league season, one of those coming on 2 May 2010 in a 2–3 loss at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. In late August, he was loaned to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, with the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns having an option to make the move permanent at the end of the campaign for about

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1.6 million. Rovérsio returned to Osasuna for 2011–12, initially being made first-choice by manager

José Luis Mendilibar José Luis Mendilibar Etxebarria (born 14 March 1961) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of Super League Greece club Olympiacos. He played no higher than Segunda División, making 290 appea ...

. On 17 September 2011, he scored in his own net in a 0–8 away loss against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. Rovérsio spent the 2012–13 season in Turkey with

Orduspor Orduspor is a Turkish football club founded in 1967. The club is located in Ordu, Turkey and played their home games at 19 Eylül Stadium. The team managed to qualify for the Turkish Super League again in 2011. But the last spell in top level ...

. On 19 July 2013, the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

announced they had agreed terms with the 29-year-old. He made his debut for the latter on 17 August against the

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Carolina Railhawks. On December 6, 2016, the RailH ...

, and was a key contributor to a team that won the

Soccer Bowl 2013 Soccer Bowl 2013 was the North American Soccer League's postseason championship match of the 2013 season held to determine the NASL Champion. The event was contested in a one-game match between the Atlanta Silverbacks, winners of the Spring Cha ...

, conceding only 12 goals in the process, a competition best; he was also named to the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

Team of the Week twice. During the 2014 Spring season, Rovérsio appeared in eight of nine games and helped anchor the center of a Cosmos defense that allowed just three goals in nine games, setting a modern NASL day record for minutes without conceding at 372. He battled a knee injury during the fall season, but made the NASL Team of the Week in round 14 for his performance in a 2–1 win against

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were di ...

.Fall Season 2014: NASL Team of Week 14
NASL, 15 October 2014

References

External links

Cosmos official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roversio 1984 births Living people Footballers from Pernambuco Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Santa Cruz Futebol Clube players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Gil Vicente F.C. players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players La Liga players Segunda División players CA Osasuna players Real Betis players Süper Lig players Orduspor footballers North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players New York Cosmos (2010) players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen