Rafael da Silva Floro (born 19 January 1994) is a Portuguese 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 plays as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for the team

Balzan Balzan () is a municipality in the Northern Region, Malta, Northern Region of Malta, and together with Attard and Lija, forms part of the "Three villages of Malta, Three Villages" (). The village originally consisted of a group of small dwellin ...

in the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

Club career

Born in

Quarteira Quarteira (, ) is a Portuguese Freguesia (Portugal), civil parish, in the municipality (''concelho'') of Loulé in the Algarve.Detail Regional Map, Algarve-Southern Portugal, The population in 2011 was 21,798, in an area of 38.16 km². Histo ...

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

, Floro played youth football with six clubs, including local C.D.R. Quarteirense from ages 8 to 13. He finished his development with

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 ...

and, although he was selected to some Segunda Liga matches by the B team to kickstart his senior career, he could never appear in the competition. In summer 2013, Floro went on trial with English

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

side

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, which had all of their full-backs injured, and signed a one-year contract on 6 August after impressing. That same day, he made his professional debut, being replaced midway through the second half of a 2–1 away loss against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

in the first round of the League Cup. His first league game took place on the 10th, when he played the first half of another 1–2 defeat, now at home to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. On 10 May 2015, after no further competitive appearances for the Owls, Floro was released. Shortly after, he returned to his country and joined

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 ...

club

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

on a four-year deal. He also failed to play one single competitive match with the latter, being loaned to teams in the lower leagues. Floro returned to the Portuguese second tier on 31 January 2017, penning a two-and-a-half-year contract with Gil Vicente F.C. after leaving Louletano DC. He continued to compete in that league but also

the third is a light novel series, that has also been made into manga and anime series by Ryo Hoshino and illustrated by Ariko Ito. The anime series goes under the name . According to the New York Comic Convention, ''The Third'' has been licensed by ...

, having abroad spells in Lithuania with FC Stumbras and FK Panevėžys and in Finland with

AC Oulu AC Oulu is a Finnish professional football club based in Oulu, currently playing in Finland's premier division, ''Veikkausliiga''. Formed in 2002, the club have played six seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and 16 seasons ...

International career

In May 2014, Floro was picked by coach Ilídio Vale for his Portuguese under-20 squad which was due to appear in that year's

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

. He made four appearances during the competition, helping his team to a final third position.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Floro, Rafael 1994 births Living people People from Loulé Footballers from Faro District Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football defenders Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players FC Porto B players C.F. Os Belenenses players Casa Pia A.C. players S.R. Almancilense players Louletano D.C. players Gil Vicente F.C. players C.D. Cova da Piedade players F.C. Felgueiras (2006) players S.C. Olhanense players English Football League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players FK Novi Pazar players A Lyga players FC Stumbras players FK Panevėžys players Veikkausliiga players Serbian SuperLiga players AC Oulu players Balzan F.C. players Maltese Premier League players Portugal men's youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Lithuania Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Lithuania Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Malta 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen