Rodrigo Posso

Posso was born in Moreira Sales, Paraná, Brazil on May 16, 1976.[2][3] As a child, he played mostly indoor football; his first experience on a field was with his grandfather's amateur league.[2] His father wanted him to be a midfielder initially.[2] Posso only ever wanted to be a soccer player and started working selling tickets at 14 to try something new, but left home at 15 to join Cruzeiro's youth team.[2] His first club was Comercial.[2]

After playing on their youth squad, Posso signed a professional contract with Cruzeiro in 1996.[4] He won the Copa Libertadores with them in 1997[5] but only appeared four times before being loaned to Desportiva-ES and Ipatinga in 1999.[4][2] He was eventually traded permanently to Ipatinga and played there every year between 2004 and 2007 except for 2002.[6][4] During this time, he was loaned to Remo, ABC, Gama, Uberaba, and Mirassol.[6] In 2004, Ipatinga won the Minas Gerais Cup and were state vice and semifinalists at the Copa do Brasil in 2006.[7][3][2]

In 2009, he retired from goaltending to act as Ipatinga's Executive Director of Football.[2] He learned quickly that he missed playing and signed on with Ermis Aradippou in Cyprus the same year.[2][8][6] He played for a few months before returning to Brazil; he retired again briefly then signed with Uberlândia in 2010.[2][9] In 2013, he retired for a third time[10] after playing the 2012–2013 season with Nacional-MG.[11] He remained retired until 2017, when he signed on with São Sebastião before retiring for his fourth and final time.[6][4][12]

Posso occasionally plays on alumni teams. In 2015, he joined other former Cruzeiro players in a game against current Cruzeiros to celebrate Alex's retirement.[13] In 2017, he competed in the Master category of the Minas Gerais Cup with other former Cruzeiros.[14]

After retiring, he established a football school called the Rodrigo Passo Sports (RPS) Escola de Futebol[15][16] in the municipality of Ipatinga.[17] He coaches youth teams and in 2019 brought his U-15 team to the Disney Youth Soccer Cup, which was held in Orlando, Florida, USA.[12] He also served as the president of the Sports and Education Association in Vale do Aço.[18]

Posso has spent more time in Minas Gerais than he has in Paraná and feels more at home in Ipatinga, particularly because he was married and raised his children there.[2] He has a degree in physical education from Unileste, a university in nearby Coronel Fabriciano.[2][10]