Rafinha - Our star in the south

In 2019, the Brazilian right-back left Munich after eight years with lots of medals and even more friendships. Then as now at Sao Paulo, he's valued as an emotional leader on the pitch and in the dressing room.

The UEFA Super Cup is not one of the most coveted trophies in world football. Nevertheless, the 2013 Super Cup final against Chelsea was a milestone in FC Bayern's recent history. On that August evening, the team took revenge against the Blues for losing the "Final dahoam". Bayern fans described the atmosphere in Prague as ecstatic. It was also Pep Guardiola's first trophy at FC Bayern. And: In that match, Guardiola deployed Philip Lahm in midfield for the first time. A ground-breaking decision for German football. The Brazilian Márcio Rafael Ferreira de Souza - known as Rafinha since childhood - was the Reds' new right-back. "Pep just wanted to make room for me," recalls "Rafaelchen" a decade later in Sao Paulo - and he's quite serious about it. Rafinha played in Munich for eight years, making 266 appearances, winning seven Bundesliga titles, the DFB Cup four times and the Champions League in 2013.

The 38-year-old proudly recalls his successes. Then he happily grabs his four-string banjo and, with a grin, lets loose with a few bars of samba..

With his confident, cheeky and likeable manner, Rafinha has got further than many expected of him. Replicas of the Champions League, Club World Cup and Copa Libertadores trophies are displayed in his flat directly opposite the training ground of his current employer, FC Sao Paulo. Only eight players have ever won these three biggest trophies in club football. Rafinha belongs to this very exclusive club. 

Yet his start in Munich was anything but easy. He arrived from Genoa in 2011 and experienced a dramatic season in which FCB narrowly missed out on winning every title. "We lost everything. Championship, DFB Cup, Champions League - simply everything." Never again did he experience Munich as bleak as after the Champions League final defeat in 2012. "Like a funeral," he says in German. "There was no-one on the streets! Pure grief for days."

After that, the team were under immense pressure, says Rafinha. Some of his teammates had already lost their second Champions League final since 2010. And new signings like Rafinha were criticised by the media. The right-back even felt guilty that he had chosen the unlucky number 13 for his jersey after moving to Munich. "Nobody reproached me. But we'd lost everything and I'm superstitious. I questioned everything."

Lucky number 13

The following season, however, things improved dramatically. Rafinha describes coach Jupp Heynckes and especially his assistant Peter Hermann as the driving force behind the team's motivation in 2012/13: "Peter Hermann is a very special guy. He and Hermann Gerland were hardly ever in the limelight, but they were so incredibly important for us! Of course, if a player's playing regularly, he feels good and things are going well for him. But if you never play, you sometimes turn up to training in a bad mood. And the two of them always helped us to feel good."

That was precisely why the backup players worked unconditionally for the team's success. "And the coaching staff knew they could rely on us completely." 2013 was Bayern's and Rafinha's lucky year. After finishing as runner-up three times (twice in his previous five years at FC Schalke), he won his first-ever trophy with the number 13 on his back. "And a week before the Champions League final, my daughter was born," beams the young-at-heart Rafinha, who is now a father of four. He has almost always worn the number 13 to this day.

After securing the treble, Heynckes bid farewell and with the win against Chelsea, a new era dawned under Guardiola. "I played a lot under Pep, over 120 games in three years," recalls Rafinha of his mentor. The team were like a machine, breaking scoring records, and Guardiola's possession-based football was considered almost unbeatable. "At half-time, I would overhear opponents wishing the game was already over."

If they won on a Saturday - which was almost always the case - they would have lunch together the next day, says Rafinha. He would then play music with Dante. "Thomas Müller always wanted me to play this Brazilian super hit 'Ai Se Eu Te Pego'!" There were also regular samba sessions with fellow countrymen Luiz Gustavo, Thiago Alcantara and Douglas Costa. "Socialising is simply important for us Brazilians."

Here in Sao Paulo, Rafinha's home is also very lively. The family sits in front of the TV, accompanied by Mingo the Pomeranian dog squeaking away and the youngest daughter's toy car beeping in a continuous loop. But Rafinha leads the way and picks up the banjo again. "But I can only do the chorus," he apologises, before strumming a samba version of the FC Bayern anthem "Star of the South" and singing along: "Because we stand by each other in good times and bad ..."

During his time in Munich, he also organised dinners at home. "Small or large parties", as he says, which contribute to team building. "And I'm very good at that. I've always been a player for whom the atmosphere in the team is important. When you have harmony in the dressing room, you can really achieve great things." Over the years, Rafinha thus became a key figure in the Bayern dressing room.

"When I made my professional debut at Coritiba, my coach Antonio Lopez told me about leadership for the first time: 'You may only be 18, but when you speak, everyone listens to you,' he said. Even before that, as a child playing futsal, I was always captain and enjoyed speaking to the group. But completely informally." He learned about discipline in Germany.

One of the first tactics YouTubers

For a long time, the media weren't particularly interested in the full-back, either in his native Brazil or in Germany. But the 1.72 metre-tall Rafael needed to talk and, on his arrival in Germany, he set up a YouTube channel: @Rafinha18deSouza, an account that didn't even reach 150 subscribers. For years, it wasn't about posting funny stories or luxurious moments from his personal life, but rather precise interviews on current opponents filmed by his brother. "I was always both: when it came to partying, I was the first. But whenever I walked through the door at Säbener Straße, I always behaved as an absolute professional." The training was at the highest level, "better than many games in the Bundesliga". He would usually defend against Ribéry on the right. "That was pretty tough. I remember Franck and Kingsley Coman as the best opponents ever."

Rafinha's standing within the team was evident at his farewell press conference ahead of the final matchday of the 2018/19 season. Surprisingly, a number of his teammates accompanied him into the press room, including Neuer, a tearful Ribéry and Javi Martínez. "That was perhaps one of the best moments at Bayern," he recalls and gets goosebumps. "Among so many stars - and of course I was one of the smaller stars - it's something very special to be shown so much respect and love."

Rafinha still owns a house in the south of Munich, not least to maintain his relationship with the city. Just after the end of the season with Sao Paulo, he travelled to his old home and was really looking forward to having some mulled wine and hot chestnuts on Marienplatz.

After returning to South America, Rafinha wanted to "take it easy. It was important to me that the Brazilians got to see me play at all." Rafinha moved to the country's favourite club, Flamengo Rio de Janeiro, and promptly won the Copa Libertadores, the South American Champions League, just a few months later. "Winning the Libertadores is much more difficult," says Rafinha - because of the gruelling journeys and the wild fans, for example. "It was only then that I realised what this trophy meant to the South Americans. Millions of fans welcomed us on the streets of Rio!" The Libertadores win in 2019 was followed by two league titles and other trophies. The most successful time for Flamengo in decades. "I never thought I would win so many things after my time in Munich."

It went even further: In 2021, Rafinha moved to Europe once again to play for Olympiacos. He's been turning out in a Sao Paulo jersey since 2022 and, once again, he started at a new club with two painful defeats in two finals. Ahead of the new season, he addressed the team as captain and also spoke about the defeats in the finals in Munich. "At the first meeting, I told the lads: 'Cheer up! Success will come if we keep working hard!" And so it did: In September 2023, Rafinha hoisted the Brazilian cup as captain of the Red, White and Blacks.

He's played almost 100 games in the last two years. He prioritises a good night's sleep and spends a lot of time with the physio staff and a personal fitness coach. "Massages, recuperation - I pay attention to that." He's still one of the best full-backs in the league. "I have the feeling that I could still play anywhere." He says he would love to pull on the red jersey once again. But, he emphasises: "One competitive game! And then 'thank you' and 'bye'! Er, 'Servus'."

The report on Rafinha was published in the current issue of the members' magazine 51 (In German).

Rafinha was an important part of the Generation Wembley - watch the six-part documentary with FC Bayern TV PLUS now: