Rafael Navarro Leal (born 14 April 2000) is a Brazilian

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 for

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Career

Botafogo

Born in

Cabo Frio Cabo Frio (, ''Cold Cape'') is a tourist destination located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian coast runs east from Rio de Janeiro to Cabo Frio where it turns sharply north. North of Cabo Frio is Cabo de São Tomé. It was named aft ...

Rio de Janeiro state Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...

, Navarro played as a youth for

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club () is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighbourhood of Laranjeiras, in Rio de Janeiro, being the oldest football club in the state since its foundation in 1902. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, th ...

before moving to

Atlético Goianiense Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, where he was an unused substitute in the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B (commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B, the Série B or the Brazilian Série B to distinguish it from the Italian and the Ecuadorian Serie B), and currently officially called Brasileirão Série B ...

. On 30 October 2019, he returned to his home state, signing for

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

on a two-year deal and being assigned to the under-20 team. Navarro made his professional debut on 18 January 2020 in a 1–0

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

loss away to

Volta Redonda Volta Redonda () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with an area of 182.81 km2, located from 350m to 707m above the sea level (22°31'23" S, 44°06'15" W) and with a pop ...

, as a 73rd-minute replacement for Lucas Campos; he made six more appearances over the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. His Série A debut came a year and a week later off the bench in a 2–0 loss at Fluminense, while his first goal was on 2 February 2021 to earn a 1–1 draw at

Palmeiras The Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional association football, football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes (district of São Paulo), Perdizes. Palmeiras is ...

. He scored again in a 5–2 loss at home to Grêmio, with his team already relegated. In the

2021 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The 2021 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B was a football competition held in Brazil, equivalent to the second division. The competition began on 28 May and ended on 28 November. Twenty teams competed in the tournament, twelve returning from the 20 ...

, Navarro finished as third-highest scorer with 15 goals as his team won it. This included braces in wins over Náutico and Brusque towards the end of the season, both at the

Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos is a stadium located in the Bairro, neighbourhood of Engenho de Dentro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nilton Santos is the home stadium of Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, where games from the Copa Libertadores, Brasi ...

Palmeiras

On 22 December 2021, Palmeiras signed Navarro for the next five years. He played ten times in the victorious season in the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

, but did not score. On 12 February 2022 he played the final 17 minutes of a 2–1 loss to Chelsea in the FIFA Club World Cup Final. In his first

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

game for the two-times defending champions on 7 April, he came off the bench at half time to score twice in a 4–0 win at Venezuela's

Deportivo Táchira ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...

; he followed it a week later with four goals in thirty minutes of an 8–1 rout of Bolivians Independiente Petrolero at the

Allianz Parque Allianz Parque (), also known as Arena Palmeiras or as Arena Palestra Itália, is a football stadium in Água Branca, São Paulo, Brazil, and the home of Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, Palmeiras. The stadium also serves as a multipurpose arena ...

Colorado Rapids (loan)

On 10 July 2023, Navarro signed on loan with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

on a year-long loan with an option to make the move permanent.

Colorado Rapids

On 27 June 2024, Navarro made a permanent move to Colorado, signing a deal until the end of 2027.

Career statistics

Honours

;Botafogo *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

;Palmeiras *

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

Supercopa do Brasil The Supercopa do Brasil (), also known as Supercopa Rei (), is a Brazilian association football trophy organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It is contested between the champions of the Campeonato Brasileiro and the winners of ...

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

Runner Up:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navarro, Rafael 2000 births Living people People from Cabo Frio Brazilian men's footballers Brazil men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Botafogo FR players SE Palmeiras players Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (state) Colorado Rapids players Designated Players (MLS) Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States MLS Next Pro players Major League Soccer players Colorado Rapids 2 players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen