Rafaelle

Defender • Age 35 • #4

Rafaelle Leone Carvalho Souza is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Orlando Pride and captains the Brazil national team.

La Princesa

161 Appearances

21 Goals

7 Trophies

2 Awards

Fun Facts about Rafaelle

Quirky facts. Inspired by her game.

Her first-ever gift was a plastic football.

She grew up playing football barefoot with boys on the streets of a poor neighborhood.

She loves traveling.

She is an icon of Brazilian women´s football.

She has a tattoo recording her football career on her leg.

She grew up in a small city in Brazil where she was the only girl playing football.

The first time she saw women’s football on TV was in 2007, during the Women’s World Cup final between Brazil and Germany, sparking her realization that she could pursue football as a career.

She faced a crossroads between continuing her studies in engineering and pursuing football professionally. It changed when the University of Mississippi recruited her, allowing her to do both by offering a scholarship.

After playing for Houston Dash, she nearly gave up football to focus on her engineering career, as she realized she could earn more as an engineer than a footballer in Brazil.

Her career was saved when she received a lucrative offer to play for Changchun Zhuoyue in the Chinese Women’s Super League, preventing her from stepping away from the sport.