Rafinha Brazilian Footballer Born 1993 in São Paulo

Early life

Rafael Alcântara do Nascimento, known as Rafinha, was born on 12 February 1993 in São Paulo, Brazil. He comes from a footballing family: his father, Mazinho, was a midfielder who won the 1994 FIFA World Cup with Brazil. Rafinha joined the youth ranks of Barcelona when he was thirteen.

Career

He made his professional debut with Barcelona's reserve side on 8 January 2011, coming off the bench in a Segunda División match against Girona, and scored his first goal a week later. His first appearance for the senior squad was in the Copa del Rey on 9 November 2011. In June 2013 he extended his contract with the club until 2016 and was loaned to Celta de Vigo, where he made his top-flight debut in August 2013. His year there ended with the La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Season award.

Back at Barcelona, he made his league debut for the first team on 24 August 2014 in the opening match of Luis Enrique's tenure. His first goal in the Copa del Rey came in December 2014 and his first in the league followed in February 2015. Barcelona won the treble that season, and Rafinha was part of the squad. In the 2015 UEFA Super Cup he started in the attack and scored the third goal in a 5-4 win over Sevilla. Several knee injuries cost him time over the next seasons, including part of the 2016-17 campaign, in which he still scored six times in 18 appearances.

In January 2018 he moved on loan to Inter Milan, with an option to buy, and scored his first goal for the club in May. After extending his Barcelona contract in September 2019, he returned to Celta for a season on loan. He signed a three-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain in October 2020 and helped the club win the Coupe de France in 2020-21 and Ligue 1 in 2021-22. He spent the second half of that last season on loan at Real Sociedad. In September 2022 he moved to Al-Arabi in Qatar on a two-year contract and won the Emir of Qatar Cup in 2023.

At international level Rafinha first represented Spain at youth level, earning 14 caps across three teams. He later switched to Brazil, played for the under-20 team at the 2013 South American Youth Championship and was a stand-by player for the 2015 Copa América. He made his debut for the senior side in September 2015 in a friendly against Costa Rica and scored his first goal for Brazil four days later in a 4-1 win over the United States, assisting a goal by Neymar in the same match. He also played with the Brazil under-23 team that won the Olympic title in 2016.

Recognition

His honours at Barcelona include three La Liga titles (2014-15, 2015-16 and 2018-19), five Copa del Rey titles, the Champions League in 2014-15, the UEFA Super Cup in 2015 and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2015. With Brazil's under-20 side he won the Toulon Tournament in 2013 and, as part of the under-23 side, the Olympic Games football tournament in 2016. He was also named La Liga Player of the Month for February 2014.

Personal life

Rafinha's father is Mazinho, and his mother, Valéria, played volleyball. In October 2026 his Instagram account had more than three million followers.