Rafaelle Leone Carvalho Souza (born 18 June 1991), known as Rafaelle, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Arsenal in the FA Women's Super League and the Brazil national team. Rafaelle played for the University of Mississippi during her college soccer career in the United States and spent the 2014 season playing for Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).

Rafaelle

Rafaelle at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Rafaelle Leone Carvalho Souza[1]
Date of birth	(1991-06-18) 18 June 1991 (age 31)
Place of birth	Cipó, Bahia, Brazil
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s)	Defender / Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Arsenal
Number	2
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2013	Ole Miss Rebels	61	(44)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2014	Houston Dash	16	(0)
2014–2016	São Francisco EC	1	(3)
2016–2021	Changchun Zhuoyue
2021–2022	Palmeiras	9	(0)
2022–	Arsenal	6	(2)
National team‡
2012–	Brazil[2]	75	(8)
Honours Women's football Representing  Brazil Pan American Games 2015 Toronto Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 January 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01:35, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

Club career

In January 2014 Rafaelle was picked in the second round of the 2014 NWSL College Draft by expansion team Houston Dash. After playing one season she was waived by Houston Dash, but FC Kansas City acquired her rights the following week.[3] In March 2015 Kansas City announced that Rafaelle would not play in the 2015 National Women's Soccer League season as she was in training with her national team Brazil.[4]

Rafaelle signed with Changchun Zhuoyue of the Chinese Women's Super League in 2016, one of three Brazilian players to do so with Raquel and Darlene. Terms of the deals were not released, but in an interview with Globo Esporte, Rafaelle said the pay was considerably more than she could make in Brazil.[5] In 2017, fellow Brazilian national team player Cristiane would join her at Changchun Zhuoyue.[6]

In 2022, Rafaelle joined Arsenal on a free transfer from Changchun Zhuoyue. She is the first Brazilian to play for Arsenal Women.[7]

International career

Rafaelle played for Brazil's youth teams at the inaugural 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in New Zealand and the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup held in Germany. Her senior debut came in December 2011, as a substitute in a 4–0 win over Chile at the 2011 Torneio Internacional Cidade de São Paulo de Futebol Feminino.[8] She started her first match for Brazil's senior team in March 2012, against Canada.[9]

In February 2015 Rafaelle was included in an 18-month residency programme intended to prepare Brazil's national team for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada and the 2016 Rio Olympics.[10]

At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Rafaelle formed a makeshift center-back partnership with Mônica.[11] They kept clean sheets in all three matches as Brazil qualified from their group without conceding a goal. In the second round match against Australia, Brazil exited the competition after losing 1–0. Rafaelle remained in Canada as part of the Brazilian selection for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

Rafaelle captained the Brazilian team to their 4th consecutive win in the 2022 Copa America Feminina.[12]

International goals

Goal	Date	Location	Opponent	#	Score	Result	Competition
1	2015-07-22	Toronto, Canada	Mexico	1.2	5250.02005 2–1	5550.05005 4–2	2015 Pan American Games
2				2.2	5350.03005 4–2
3	2017-06-10	Fuenlabrada, Spain	Spain	1.1	5250.02005 1–2	5450.04005 1–2	Friendly game

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rafaelle Souza.

• Rafaelle Souza – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Rafaelle Souza at Soccerway
• Profile at soccerdonna.de (in German)
• Rafaelle Souza – 2015 Pan American Games profile

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