Rafaelle

Her first-ever gift was a plastic football.

She grew up playing football barefoot with boys on the streets of a poor neighborhood.

She loves traveling.

She is an icon of Brazilian women´s football.

She has a tattoo recording her football career on her leg.

She grew up in a small city in Brazil where she was the only girl playing football.

The first time she saw women’s football on TV was in 2007, during the Women’s World Cup final between Brazil and Germany, sparking her realization that she could pursue football as a career.

She faced a crossroads between continuing her studies in engineering and pursuing football professionally. It changed when the University of Mississippi recruited her, allowing her to do both by offering a scholarship.

After playing for Houston Dash, she nearly gave up football to focus on her engineering career, as she realized she could earn more as an engineer than a footballer in Brazil.

Her career was saved when she received a lucrative offer to play for Changchun Zhuoyue in the Chinese Women’s Super League, preventing her from stepping away from the sport.

With her football career, she also managed to help her family.

She has a degree in Civil Engineering from University of Mississippi.

She also played futsal before joining a football team.

In January 2024, she acquired a US Green Card and became a US citizen.

After her football career, she would like to start her own engineering company.

She reached the final with Brazil at the 2024 Paris Olympics.