Nando Rafael

Nando Rafael was born in Luanda, the capital of Angola, during the Civil War in 1984. After his parents’ death, at the age of 8, he moved to the Netherlands.

In 1994, Nando started playing football in Ajax, already famous in Amsterdam. In the 2001/2002 season, a young player reached the first team but lacking experience he was kept off the first-team squad and played for the reserves during all the season.

In 2002 Nando left the Netherlands and moved to Germany, where he signed a four-year contract with the Berlin Hertha BSC, worth 250 thousand euros. In that club he played from 2002 to 2006. However, because of the conflict with the coach in the winter transfer window Nando had to leave the club and joined Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he signed a two-year contract.

In 2008, Rafael left the German top club for the Danish side Aarhus Gymnastikforening. The club paid about 500 thousand dollars for the transfer. Overall, a skillful striker netted 10 goals in 33 matches for the club.

In 2010, Nanda was sent to the Bundesliga side Augsburg on loan from AGF. Thanks to his good performances in a temporary team he was offered a full contract with Augsburg in 2010.

Rafael showed excellent results and got into the first team. In December 2010, in a home game against Energie, Nanda scored the first hat-trick in his career. In total, he scored 20 goals in 43 appearances for Augsburg, becoming the top striker of the team.

In 2012, Nando Rafael moved to Fortuna Düsseldorf. After just one season Rafael moved to China and joined Henan Jianye.