This Wednesday, Rodinei Marcelo de Almeida, a 32-year-old Brazilian right-back, celebrated as a champion at the OPAP Arena, the venue where the UEFA Conference League final was played, in which Olympiacos defeated Fiorentina by the minimum (1-0) with a last-minute goal from Ayoub El Kaabi (116′).
The Brazilian Rodinei played the full 120 minutes of the match and managed to add the third continental title of his career, and now his personal trophy cabinet stands out with this UEFA Conference League and the two Copa Libertadores he won with Flamengo.
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After making almost all of his career in Brazil, Rodinei triumphed in European football
Rodinei was born on January 29, 1992 in the town of Tatuí, São Paulo and from a very young age showed a predilection for football.
After doing almost all of his youth development with Avaí FC, Rodinei had several loan spells at various Brazilian clubs, highlighting his time with Marcílio Dias, Corinthians, Clube Recreativo e Atlético Catalano, Penapolense or Ponte Petra, but he never managed to debut with Avaí’s first team.
This led him to leave the club in 2015, the year in which he signed for Vitória-SP. A couple of more loan spells later and after recording very good performances, Flamengo spotted his services and signed him in 2016 for a figure close to 900,000 euros.
Except for a loan spell at Internacional in 2020, Rodinei managed to find stability at Mengão, a club with which he managed to stand out on the big stages, including the Copa Libertadores, a tournament he won twice (2019 and 2022).
After making almost all of his career in Brazil, Rodinei opted to make the leap to European football, signing for Olympiacos in January 2023. Less than a year and a half after making this decision, football has rewarded him with a new continental trophy, playing a key role in the Conference League won by the Greek team.
Remembering Zagallo
Sambafoot Series launched a new documentary about the football legend Zagallo. Known as ‘Velho Lobo‘ and as superstitious as it gets, Zagallo helped shape what Brazilian football is nowadays — as a player and as a coach.
Watch the full series, available on Sambafoot’s Youtube channel.
