Rafael Wihby Bracali (born 5 May 1981) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He also held

Italian citizenship The primary law governing nationality of Italy is Law 91/1992, which came into force on 16 August 1992. Italy is a member state of the European Union (EU), and all Italian nationals are EU citizens. They are entitled to free movement rights ...

Club career

Born in

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints''), officially Municipality of Estância Balneária de Santos, is a city and Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese n ...

, Bracali started playing professionally for local

Paulista Futebol Clube Paulista Futebol Clube, also called as Paulista de Jundiaí or simply Paulista, is a Brazilian football team from Jundiaí, in São Paulo, founded on 17 May 1909. They currently play in the Campeonato Paulista Série A4, the fourth tier of the ...

. In 2006, he moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and signed with

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal , P ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

. After backing up

Diego Benaglio Diego Orlando Benaglio (born 8 September 1983) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his professional career with Stuttgart and Wolfsburg in Germany's top flight, the Bundesliga, winning the 2009 ...

in his first season and appearing in 14

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 ...

games in the second, he became first choice after the Swiss transferred to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

. Bracali did not miss one single league match from

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. He was set to sign for fellow top-division side

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. Best known for the men's professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese foo ...

in June 2011, but the deal eventually fell through. In August 2011, Bracali replaced the departed Beto as understudy at

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, behind his compatriot Helton. He made his only league appearance for the ''Dragons'' on 12 May 2012 in the last game of a victorious campaign, a 5–2 win at Rio Ave F.C. in which he was

substituted Substitution may refer to: Arts and media *Substitution (poetry), a variation in poetic scansion *Substitution (theatre), an acting methodology Music *Chord substitution, swapping one chord for a related one within a chord progression *Tritone ...

late on for fellow debutant Kadú. He was then loaned to

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its Association football, football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association Portuguese Di ...

where he played more frequently, and the team avoided relegation by one point. On 13 July 2015, after two years in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

with Panetolikos FC, Bracali agreed a two-year deal with

F.C. Arouca Futebol Clube de Arouca () is a professional Association football, football club based in the Porto metropolitan area. Founded in 1951, the club plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Estádio Municipal de Arouca, with a 5,600-seat capac ...

. A year after the club's relegation, on 29 June 2018 he returned to the top flight and the city of

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

by signing for

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube (), commonly known as Boavista, is a Portuguese professional sports club from the of Porto that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese football, at the Estádio do B ...

on a two-year contract. Bracali agreed to an extension at the

Estádio do Bessa The Estádio do Bessa Sec. XXI (') is a soccer, football stadium located in the Boavista area of Porto, Portugal, used by Boavista F.C., Boavista Futebol Clube. Like other stadiums used in Euro 2004, the Bessa is a new ground but built on top of ...

until 30 June 2021 in August 2019, aged 38. He played second-fiddle to

Léo Jardim Leonardo "Léo" César Jardim (born 20 March 1995) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Vasco da Gama. Club career On 13 July 2019, Jardim joined Ligue 1 club Lille on a five-year contract. Jardim made his club ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, but was again a starter afterwards. In May 2023, Bracali announced his retirement from professional football. In July, he replaced Fary Faye as his last club's

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

Personal life

Bracali's father,

Armando Armando may refer to: * Armando (given name) * Armando (artist) (1929–2018), the name used by Dutch artist Herman Dirk van Dodeweerd * Armando (producer) Armando Gallop (sometimes written as Armando Gallup) (February 12, 1970 – December 17, ...

, was also a footballer and a goalkeeper. After notably representing

Clube Atlético Juventus Clube Atlético Juventus (Latin for ''Youth''), commonly referred to as Juventus da Mooca or simply Juventus, is a Brazilian professional football club in the district of Mooca, São Paulo, that competes in Campeonato Paulista Série A2, the s ...

in the 1970s, he worked mainly as a goalkeeping coach at Paulista.

Career statistics

Honours

Paulista *

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Porto *

: 2011–12 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bracali, Rafael 1981 births Living people 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Santos, São Paulo Men's association football goalkeepers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Paulista Futebol Clube players Esporte Clube Juventude players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players C.D. Nacional players FC Porto players S.C. Olhanense players F.C. Arouca players Boavista F.C. players Super League Greece players Panetolikos F.C. players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece