Rafael Carvalheira

Rafael dos Santos Carvalheira Natividade (born 26 May 1999) is a Brazilian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Chapecoense.

Career Born in Rio de Janeiro, Carvalheira was a Flamengo youth graduate. On 26 December 2018, he was loaned to Globo for the 2019 Campeonato Potiguar.

After making his senior debut with Globo, Carvalheira spent the rest of the 2019 campaign on loan at Ceará, but with their under-23 team. On 19 December 2019, he signed a permanent contract with Vozão.

In July 2020, Carvalheira was loaned to Guarany de Sobral for the remainder of the 2020 Cearense. On 29 December, he renewed his contract with Ceará until the end of the 2021 Cearense, but did not feature for the first team until leaving for Cianorte on 30 April 2021.

In 2022, after four months unemployed, Carvalheira joined Passo Fundo. After being the club's top scorer in the Campeonato Gaúcho Série A2, he moved to Brasil de Pelotas on 20 May, but returned to Passo Fundo on loan in September for the Copa FGF. After being a backup option in the 2023 Campeonato Paulista, he started to feature regularly in the 2023 Série B.

On 5 December 2023, Carvalheira agreed to a one-year contract with Chapecoense.

Career statistics