Rafinha

Márcio Rafael Ferreira de Souza, commonly known as Rafinha, (born September 7, 1985) is a Brazil association football who plays at right-back for FC Schalke 04 in the Fußball-Bundesliga. His name translated to English literally means 'Little Rafa'.

Early Career

Rafinha began his football career at the age of seven, playing for Gremio Londrinense, a futsal team from his home town of Londrina in Paraná (state). By the age of twelve, he had begun training with PSTC, a local football club, before signing for Londrina Esporte Clube in 2001, at the age of 16. However, at the end of his first year with Londrina, Rafinha was signed by Coritiba Foot Ball Club. Although this meant moving hundreds of kilometres from his home town, Coritiba would allow Rafinha to display his talents on a national stage.

While at Coritiba, Rafinha eventually found his way into the Brazil national under-20 football team, and played in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. During the tournament, Rafinha scored two goals and played an integral part in Brazil's progress to the bronze medal. Rafinha's performance at the tournament alerted numerous European teams to his ability, but eventually it was FC Schalke 04 who were able to prise the right-back from Coritiba for an estimated Euro5 million on a four-year contract.

2008 Olympics

In the summer of 2008 Rafinha was involved in a dispute with his club about his participation for Brazil at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Schalke 04 (Rafinha) along with Werder Bremen (Diego) and Barcelona (Lionel Messi) did not want to release their players for the olympic games so that they could help them in their domestic and European competitions. The case was taken to FIFA who ruled that all clubs should release their players aged under 23 for the Olympic Games.

Schalke, Bremen and Barcelona took their case the the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) who eventually ruled in the clubs favour stating that "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeals filed by FC Schalke 04, SV Werder Bremen and FC Barcelona against the decision issued on 30 July 2008 by the Single Judge of the Fifa's Players' Status Committee that consequently has been set aside in its entirety"

Schalke continued to refuse Rafinha from attending the Olympics. However, Rafinha competed as part of the Brazilian team, who won bronze, despite the wishes of his club. On 24 September, 2008, Schalke handed Rafinha a record fine of €700,000 as they believed his 35 days in Beijing were "in serious breach of contract".