Douglas de Medeiros Rinaldi (born 29 August 1979) is a former

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He retired in 2013.

Career

Born in Erval Seco,

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

, Rinaldi started his career at the youth team of Criciúma. After failing to become a professional footballer, Rinaldi decided to quit football. However, after a trial with Santo Ângelo, he signed his first professional contract and stayed with the club until 2002 when he joined Italian side

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin language, Ladin and ; ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige, Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the Trentino, autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ...

. He returned to Brazil in the following year and after acquiring a European passport, Rinaldi spent the following years playing for

based teams with brief overseas spells with

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the Maresme county in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, Maresme coast, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, north-east of Barcel ...

and Apollon Kalamaria. During the January 2007

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, Rinaldi was signed on a six-month

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

deal by

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

from

ian club Veranópolis. He made his first appearance for Watford in a 3–1 defeat at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

on 17 March 2007, coming on as a substitute. His performance gained praise from Watford

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Aidy Boothroyd. Rinaldi scored his first professional goal for Watford on 18 April 2007 in another 3–1 defeat, this time to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. On 22 May 2007, Rinaldi signed a two-year contract with Watford for an initial fee of £250,000. He found chances hard to come by since joining on a long term contract and only featured in two of the Hornets' games in the 2007–08 season, which came in the League Cup against Gillingham (in which he scored) and Southend United. Rinaldi played in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

during that season but failed to persuade Boothroyd to select him for the first team. On 17 July 2008, Watford terminated Rinaldi's contract with immediate effect. He later returned to Brazil and joined

Ehime FC commonly known as Ehime FC (愛媛FC, ''Ehime Efu Shī'') is a professional Association football, football club based in Matsuyama, Ehime, Matsuyama, the capital city of Ehime Prefecture of Japan. The club currently compete in J2 League, the s ...

in 2010. On 16 April 2010, Rinaldi left the club after only four months and returned to his native Brazil, playing a single match for the club from the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. He retired from football in 2013 after União Frederiquense failed to achieve promotion to

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

References

External links

* *
ErvalSeco.com

Douglas Rinaldi
at playmakerstats.com (English version of ogol.com.br) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinaldi, Douglas 1979 births Living people Footballers from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Premier League players Watford F.C. players J2 League players Ehime FC players Expatriate men's footballers in England Brazilian people of Italian descent CE Mataró players Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Men's association football midfielders