Rodrigo (beach soccer)

Rodrigo Soares da Costa (born 16 August 1993), better known simply as Rodrigo, is a Brazilian beach soccer player who plays as a forward. He won the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup representing Brazil and claimed the Silver Shoe (second highest scorer) award at the competition; he has also appeared at three other World Cups (2015, 2019, 2021). Rodrigo now sits inside the top ten of Brazil's all-time top scorers.

Rodrigo is considered one of the world's top players, as recognised at multiple Beach Soccer Stars awards ceremonies.

Career
Rodrigo grew up playing casual beach soccer on Copacabana beach. He joined his first competitive club, Botafogo, in 2011, aged 18. Three years later in 2014, aged 21, Rodrgio was called up to the Brazilian national team for the first time and was subsequently picked for the 2015 World Cup squad.

He particularly came to prominence in 2016, aged 23, when he won MVP awards in the Russian Superleague and Euro Winners Cup, and won the Rising Star commendation at the Beach Soccer Stars awards ceremony. The next year, he inspired Brazil to their 2017 World Cup victory in the Bahamas, winning the Silver Shoe (second highest scorer) award with nine goals.

In 2017, Rodrigo also joined top Russian club, Kristall. As of 2023, he has scored 251 goals in 176 games for the club in all competitions.

He cemented his place as one of the world's best players when he was named as one of the world's top three players and part of the team of the year at the 2019 Beach Soccer Stars ceremony. At the 2021 World Cup, Rodrigo made his 100th appearance for Brazil in the group stage loss to Switzerland.

Statistics
Note: Some of the sources of these statistics may have counted an appearance when the player was actually an unused substitute.


 * County


 * Club

Honours
As of 2023.

The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major honours Rodrigo has achieved:

Country

 * FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
 * Winner (2): 2017, 2024
 * World Beach Games
 * Winner (1): 2019
 * Intercontinental Cup
 * Winner (3): 2014, 2016, 2017
 * CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
 * Winner (3): 2015, 2017, 2019
 * Copa América
 * Winner (2): 2016, 2018
 * Mundialito
 * Winner (2): 2017, 2023
 * South American Beach Games
 * Winner (1): 2019
 * South American Beach Soccer League
 * Winner (4): 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022

Club

 * Euro Winners Cup
 * Winner (2): 2020, 2021
 * Russian Superleague
 * Winner (4): 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023
 * Russian Cup
 * Winner (5): 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023

Individual

 * FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (1):
 * Silver Shoe: 2017


 * Beach Soccer Stars (3):
 * Rising Star: 2016
 * World's top 3 best players: 2019
 * World dream team: 2019


 * Intercontinental Cup (2):
 * Best player: 2017, 2018


 * CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (1):
 * Top scorer: 2019


 * Copa América (1):
 * Best player: 2018


 * Mundialito (4):
 * Best player: 2017, 2023
 * Top scorer: 2017, 2023


 * Euro Winners Cup (1):
 * Best player: 2016


 * Russian Superleague (3):
 * Best player: 2017
 * Top scorer: 2017, 2019