Rodrigo Tabata

Gaziantepspor and Beşiktaş

After a successful season with Gaziantepspor, Tabata moved to Beşiktaş for €8 million transfer fee. The transfer caused controversy at Santos as the Brazilian club claimed that they have not received the fee from Gaziantepspor to make the deal permanent before the deal was finished between the Turkish clubs.

Tabata played one full season at Beşiktaş before moving on loan to Al Rayyan in 2010, later being purchased by the Qatari side in 2011.

Al Rayyan

In late 2011, the Al Rayyan administration asked Tabata, who has Japanese grandparents, to obtain a Japanese passport for reasons relating to the foreign player quota of the AFC Champions League. However, Tabata failed the prerequisites as he was unable to write or read the Japanese language.

He received a $100,000 cash award on 8 April 2012 for scoring a super hat-trick (4 goals) against Qatar SC in a league game to give his team an 8–2 win, which was the highest scoring game recorded in the league for the 2011–12 season. He also won the player of the year award in the Qatar Stars League that season, recording 17 goals and 9 assists.

Loan to Al Sadd On 31 January 2014, he signed a loan deal with another Qatari club and title holders Al Sadd. He returned to Al Rayyan in 2015.

Al Sadd In July 2020, Tabata signed with Al Sadd for one year. He then returned to Al Rayyan in 2023.

According to IFFHS, Tabata was the fourth-oldest player in the world to play a match in the top tier of a national league in 2024, at the age of 44 years and 18 days, in his last Qatar Stars League game in 2024 against Qatar SC, which ended in a 2–1 loss.

Al Kharaitiyat In August 2025, Tabata signed for Qatari Second Division side Al Kharaitiyat.

International career After years of playing in Qatar, he became a naturalized Qatari citizen and was therefore eligible for the Brazilian and Qatari national football teams. In August 2015, Tabata was selected for the Qatar national team's camp in Austria. His unofficial debut came in a friendly against Austrian club LASK Linz on 17 August 2015. He made his official debut in a FIFA World Cup qualifier match against Hong Kong in a 2–0 win.

Career statistics

Club

International Scores and results list Qatar's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rodrigo Tabata goal.

Honours Santos Campeonato Paulista: 2006, 2007

Al Rayyan Qatar Stars League: 2015–16 Emir of Qatar Cup: 2013 Sheikh Jassim Cup: 2012, 2013, 2018

Al-Sadd Qatar Stars League: 2020–21, 2021–22 Qatar Cup: 2020, 2021 Emir of Qatar Cup: 2014, 2020, 2021 Sheikh Jassim Cup: 2014

Individual Qatar Stars League Player of the Year: 2011–12, 2015–16 Qatar Stars League Top Scorer: 2015–16