Raphinha Childhood Story (What you didn’t know)
Raphinha was born on December 14, 1996, to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Maninho Belloli. The football player’s hometown is the city of Porto Alegre, southern Brazil.
Raphinha’s parents had him at a very young age and it appears that his father is of a different nationality. The young father (Maninho) is Italian, while the mother is Brazilian.
As noted, the football player followed his mother’s gene – which appears to be the strongest in his family.
Raphael Dias Belloli, also known as Raphinha, spent his childhood in Restinga. This is a humble neighborhood in Porto Alegre.
It is one of those needy Brazilian communities that has citizens who have succeeded in life through sport.
The Barcelona football player is no different. He was among the children who benefited from these football schemes.
Raphinha’s first steps in football
Raphinha, like most aspiring footballers, never went through the normal school system.
The young man received football training in Monte Castelo. This is one of the main floodplain teams in the Restinga fields.
Many young people who went through this football school became professionals. However, Raphinha is the most successful of them.
Thanks to football’s family roots, everyone already knew the quality it possessed.
As a boy, Raphinha participated in floodplain games with adults. At that time, he dishonored the big boys by dribbling and scoring goals.
As the young man grew up, he continued to help his team win almost everything. At that time, Raphinha’s style of play attracted a lot of attention from football elites.
They generally appreciated their hometown’s upcoming football stars. Among them were legends like Ronaldinho .
At first, the skinny young man was scared to meet the football legend. The first meeting with Ronaldinho was like seeing a comic book superhero.
As Raphinha thought everything was going well, little did he know that difficult times were coming.
Base Categories
Raphinha began his life in football for Varzean teams in southern Brazil . He played for teams such as Cobal, Monte Castelo and Udinese FC.
His personal life directly interfered with his first years playing football, even if not professionally, as the Udinese FC team ( gaúcha ), which was led by his cousin, demanded that the boys get good grades to continue having access to the social project that the team was part of. However, the Brazilian was unable to meet these requirements and also had difficulties reconciling football with his studies.
After leaving amateur football, the young man sought to join Internacional ‘s youth teams , but it was in a pilot project by Ronaldinho Gaúcho that Raphinha was finally able to spend a year training with Grêmio . His stay was not lasting. The player had been passed over for both teams due to his short stature and low body weight.
At Tricolor , the player’s family had difficulty getting through the month. After leaving the Grêmio team, the player then decided to go to Porto Alegre , a club owned by the Assis Moreira family, and joined the base there for two years, until the closure of the Base Categories. After that, Raphinha ran through several floodplain teams again.
A turning point happened to Raphinha when he was 16 years old. After games in the floodplain, a businessman became interested in him and took him to stay in the Basic Categories of Audax , in São Paulo . Despite being on a team with more visibility, his stay with the team was not easy, and the player thought about abandoning football while he was still at the Southeast club’s base .
His time at Audax was short, as the team was sold the year he turned 17. As a result, he had to return to his city and find a new team. There, he received an offer from Imbituba , from the Catarinense Under-20 Second Division. He accepted, and it was playing in Santa Catarina that he caught the attention of one of the most traditional teams in the state.
Avaí Football Club
After standing out in local football, Avaí Futebol Clube signed him in 2014. At the club’s base there was also another player who would stand out on English soil: defender Gabriel Magalhães . The two achieved great prominence in their Premier League days and were called up by coach Tite on some occasions to defend the Brazilian team in the future.
On October 7, 2015, Raphinha was integrated into the Avaí main squad . Raphinha had already been part of the team in Copinha and Copa Ipiranga . His positive performance at Base caught the attention of Deco , the former Portuguese-Brazilian player , who has managed him since then.
Victory of Guimarães
Without making his professional debut, on February 2, 2016, Raphinha was sold by Avaí for 600 thousand euros to Vitória de Guimarães .
Raphinha made his debut on 13 March 2016 against Paços Ferreira .
During his stay, the Brazilian had to spend a season with Vitória’s B team, only to play 41 games in the following season and score 4 goals and 6 assists.
Still in his first season in the main team, the player reached the final of the 2016–17 Taça de Portugal , where he finished runner-up after being defeated by Benfica.
Afterwards, the athlete finally exploded onto the European football scene. In 43 matches, the Brazilian scored 18 goals, 15 of which were scored in the Portuguese Championship.
The player would be sold at the end of that season, but was remembered in 2022 during the Portuguese club’s centenary. There, the Brazilian received honors and was present in the Best Team in the History of Vitória de Guimarães. In this select list, he shared the attack with Vitor Paneira and Paulinho Cascavel . Another Brazilian joined the team, defender Pedro Geromel .
Sporting
His sale to Sporting was announced on May 23, 2018. The Brazilian signed for 5 seasons with the Lions . He made his debut on 12 August against Moreirense .
He scored his first goal for the club on 20 September 2018 against Qarabag in a 2–0 victory in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League .
The player’s passage earned him his first collective titles. In his first season, the player won two trophies: the League Cup and the Portuguese Cup.
The team managed to qualify for the Europa League qualifiers, but left the competition in the round of 16, against Villarreal and secured 3rd place in the League .
The Brazilian managed to participate in several matches, 35 in total, and found the net on seven occasions. In the following season, however, the player only participated in five games, where he scored two goals in the same match, and left the team heading to Ligue 1 .
Rennes
Raphinha was traded at the end of the 2019 European summer transfer window, on September 1, 2019. The striker was signed by Rennes , from France , for 21 million euros . Raphinha chose number 7 to wear.
On 14 September, he made his Ligue 1 debut against Brest. On 10 November 2019, he scored his first goal for Rouge et Noir against Amiens (3-1 win)
At the club, the player repeated similar data to his season. In 30 matches, he scored 7 goals and performed well in the team’s regular campaign to the French Cup semi-final that season. In the French Championship , the player had highlights, but his main game came when he scored a double helping the team beat Nantes 3-2 in the 22nd round.
The club reached 3rd place in the Championship, but the player left the team at the start of the following season after scoring once in six games.
Leeds United
On 5 October 2020, Raphinha was signed by Leeds United .
Debuting in the Premier League , the Brazilian quickly stood out with the team by scoring six goals with the Leeds team’s shirt. The player had also managed to help his teammates through his nine assists, especially the one made in the 20th round when he passed to Jack Harisson to break the tie against Newcastle United. In that same match, Raphinha opened the scoring that would soon end 2-1.
After a great 2020–21 season, Leeds announced that Raphinha would be the new number 10 .
Barcelona
On July 13, 2022, Raphinha was announced by Barcelona . The initial agreement foresees the payment of 49 million pounds, which could reach 55 million pounds.
Raphinha made his debut for Barcelona with a goal and two assists in the preparatory game against Inter Miami, in the United States. Alex Balde made the cross towards his teammate and Raphinha, well positioned behind the defenders, took advantage of the ball and, with his left leg, shot the goal with no chance of defending the Miami goalkeeper.
On July 24, 2022, Raphinha who stole the show and secured a 1-0 victory against rival Real Madrid in a pre-season friendly in his first El Clásico which was played in Las Vegas , in the United States.
He finished the season, in which he won the league title, scoring a total of ten goals and providing twelve assists.
Family of Raphinha
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| Raphinha’s Parents |
In Maninho Belloli’s house, love flows strong and deep. Sometimes it gives them a nostalgic feeling of how they have come a long way.
Here, Raphinha takes her father, mother and brother to enjoy the landscape and sun of Catalonia – in Barcelona.
Raphinha’s Family Origin
The football player comes from the largest suburban neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Raphinha has family roots in Restinga, where 27 different favelas live. The area has a popular favela called Ilhota.
Despite coming from that neighborhood, the football player wasn’t that poor, as his hard-working father never made that happen.
Research shows that Maninho Belloli, alongside members of his family (including Raphinha), have Italian citizenship.
Raphinha’s Father
Some of Maninho’s relatives are Italian. He is super proud of the fact that Raphinha uses football to bless her home. Seeing how father and son fit together, it takes someone special to be a young father like Maninho.
Raphinha’s mother
Raphinha would love his wife more, his father more and his mother longer.
It does the work of teaching you how to prepare for and meet challenges as they happen. Raphinha’s mother is Brazilian by birth and has a close bond with her son.
Raphinha’s siblings
Raphinha’s brother
According to GloboeSporteGlobo, the football player has a brother who lives in Brazil. He only gets to see him mostly during the holidays. It seems that his older brother did not have football as an occupation.
Ranphinha’s wife
Raphinha’s wife is Natalia Rodrigues Belloli.
She is a young influencer, just 25 years old, who gave up everything to live with Raphinha in Spain, the country where the winger lives due to his contract with Barcelona.
Ranphinha’s children
Raphinha’s daughter is called Gael.
In May 2023, Barcelona star Raphinha celebrated the birth of his first child, Gael, the result of his union with digital influencer Natalia Rodrigues Belloli
