Rodrigo Vilaverde Caetano (born 18 February 1970), simply known as Rodrigo Caetano, 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 ...

and football executive.

Player career

Left midfielder, Rodrigo Caetano was discovered by the youth teams of Grêmio FBPA. He played for most of his career for teams in

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 ...

, but in 1992 he was part of the Mogi Mirim squad known as "carrosel caipira", alongside

Rivaldo Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (; born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo, is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as ...

and Válber. He experienced his best individual moment in 1996 playing for Juventude, signing a pre-contract with Compostela, but it ended up not being fulfilled due to an injury.

Executive career

Due to a serious knee injury, Caetano struggled in the final part of his career, retiring as a player after playing for São José de

Cachoeira do Sul Cachoeira do Sul () is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southernmost Brazil. Its Marian Catedral da Nossa Senhora da Conceição http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/brazil/2666.htm GCatholic is the episcopal see of the Roman Cath ...

. In 2003, he was invited to work on the staff of RS Futebol, a team founded by then manager

Paulo César Carpegiani Paulo César Carpegiani (born 7 February 1949, in Erechim) is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Playing career Carpegiani began his professional career at Sport Club Internacional of Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul ...

. After this experience, he studied business administration at

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (, PUCRS) is a private non-profit Catholic university. With campuses in the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Viamão, it is the largest private university of the state of Rio Grande do S ...

and completed an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in Business Management at

Fundação Getulio Vargas Fundação Getulio Vargas (''Getulio Vargas Foundation'', often abbreviated as FGV) is a Brazilian higher education institution and think tank founded on December 20, 1944. FGV is considered by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the ...

. In 2005, he began working in the youth categories of Grêmio, which lasted until 2008 when, prompted by

Roberto Dinamite Carlos Roberto de Oliveira (13 April 1954 – 8 January 2023), known as Roberto Dinamite, was a Brazilian footballer and politician. He was born in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro state. With a career as centre forward spanning over twenty yea ...

, then president of

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

, he accepted the position of football director of the club. As director of Vasco, Caetano was part of the club's restructuring after relegation to Série B in 2008 season, which later culminated in the

2011 Copa do Brasil The 2011 Copa do Brasil (officially known as the 2011 Copa Kia do Brasil for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd edition of the Copa do Brasil, Brazil's national football cup tournament. It began on February 16 and ended on June 8. This edition's c ...

title and runner-up in the

2011 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The 2011 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (officially the Brasileirão Petrobras 2011 for sponsorship reasons) was the 55th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top-level of professional football in Brazil. It began on May 21 and was ...

. In 2012, he was hired by Fluminense where he remained until 2014, being part of the group that won the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and

Brazilian championship Brazilian commonly refers to: * Brazil, a country * Brazilians, its people * Brazilian Portuguese, its dialect Brazilian may also refer to: * "The Brazilian", a 1986 instrumental music piece by Genesis * Brazilian Café, Baghdad, Iraq (1937) * Bra ...

in 2012. He returned to Vasco da Gama in 2014, who had again been relegated to Série B. In 2015, he was chosen by Flamengo as one of the responsibles for the club's financial restructuring, a process led by the management of president . Caetano was also responsible for the sale of

Vinícius Júnior Vinícius José Paixão de Oliveira Júnior (; born 12 July 2000), commonly known as Vinícius Júnior or Vini Jr., is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for La Liga ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

for 45 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s. In March 2018 he was fired from Flamengo, signing in May with Internacional. He remained at the club until the end of 2020, when it was speculated that he would join

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, who later hired Rui Costa for the position. In 2021, he arrived at Atlético Mineiro, having great success again in his work with the club's titles in the 2021 Campeonato Brasileiro and

2021 Copa do Brasil The 2021 Copa do Brasil (officially the Copa Intelbras do Brasil 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was the 33rd edition of the Copa do Brasil football competition. It was held between 9 March and 15 December 2021. The competition was contested by 92 ...

. Caetano remained in the position until 17 February 2024, when he was appointed general coordinator of the CBF, being responsible for the Brazil national team until 2026.

References

External links

Rodrigo Caetano
at ogol.com.br {{DEFAULTSORT:Caetano, Rodrigo 1970 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Brazilian men's footballers Grêmio FBPA players Clube Esportivo Aimoré players Mogi Mirim Esporte Clube players Brusque Futebol Clube players Sociedade Esportiva Recreativa e Cultural Brasil players Esporte Clube Juventude players Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul players Grêmio Esportivo Brasil players Clube Náutico Capibaribe players Esporte Clube Avenida players Esporte Clube Guarani players Esporte Clube Passo Fundo players Veranópolis Esporte Clube Recreativo e Cultural players Footballers from Rio Grande do Sul Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian football chairmen and investors Brazil national football team non-playing staff 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul alumni Fundação Getulio Vargas alumni