{"id":81222,"date":"2026-09-05T14:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T14:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/81222\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T14:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T14:47:07","slug":"raphinha-appointed-barcelona-captain-first-brazilian-to-hold-the-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/81222\/","title":{"rendered":"Raphinha appointed Barcelona captain, first Brazilian to hold the role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raphinha<\/a> has been appointed as Barcelona<\/a>‘s captain for the 2026-27 season, becoming the first Brazilian to be handed the role at the Spanish champions.<\/p>\n

Pedri<\/a>, Eric Garc\u00eda<\/a>, Frenkie de Jong<\/a> and Lamine Yamal<\/a> join Raphinha as part of the leadership group.<\/p>\n

Bar\u00e7a coach Hansi Flick picked Raphinha and Pedri as captain and vice captain, respectively, with a squad vote determining the appointment of Garc\u00eda, De Jong and Yamal.<\/p>\n

“My coaching staff and I, we are here for two years now, so we have more of an overview about what happens in the team,” Flick said ahead of Sunday’s trip to Valencia<\/a> in LaLiga.<\/p>\n

“For me, it was important that I have two captains. I decided two and the other players were named by the team.<\/p>\n

Raphinha is the first Brazilian to be appointed the Barcelona captain.\u00a0David Ramirez\/Soccrates\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

“So first is Raphinha, second is Pedri, third is Eric and then Frenkie and Lamine.”<\/p>\n

Raphinha, 29, replaces Marc-Andr\u00e9 ter Stegen<\/a> as Bar\u00e7a’s permanent captain following the goalkeeper’s loan move to Dutch side Ajax.<\/p>\n

Along with De Jong and Pedri, he was one of the assistant captains last year, with Garc\u00eda and Yamal the new faces added for the upcoming campaign.<\/p>\n

They fill the spaces vacated by Ter Stegen and Ronald Ara\u00fajo<\/a>, who has joined Liverpool<\/a> on a season-long loan.<\/p>\n

“For me, when I see the team, the players who have a lot of influence, this is for me Raphinha and also Pedri — also because they nearly always play,” Flick added.<\/p>\n

“It was a clear decision. As I said, I know the team much better than before. It’s a good group, a good leadership team.”<\/p>\n

Given how often Ter Stegen, Ara\u00fajo and De Jong were missing last season, Raphinha has already captained Bar\u00e7a on several occasions.<\/p>\n

However, he has now been handed the role on a permanent basis, becoming the first Brazilian to hold the honour at the Catalan club.<\/p>\n

Bar\u00e7a have a rich history of players from Brazil<\/a> representing them, with Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Romario, Rivaldo and Neymar<\/a> among some of the stars from the South American country to have worn the club’s shirt.<\/p>\n

Raphinha became the latest when he joined Bar\u00e7a from English side Leeds United<\/a> in 2022 for around \u20ac55 million (\u00a347m \/ $63.5m) and he has since established himself as one of the team’s most important players.<\/p>\n

He has scored 80 goals in 180 appearances for the club, winning three LaLiga titles, three Spanish Supercopas and one Copa del Rey<\/a> in that period.<\/p>\n

Having been signed as a right winger, his best performances have come on the left, while he is currently being used as the team’s central striker following the exits of Robert Lewandowski<\/a> and Ferran Torres<\/a>.<\/p>\n

– Barcelona’s Yamal hits 50 goals! When did Messi, Ronaldo, Mbapp\u00e9, Haaland reach half-centuries?<\/a>
– Bar\u00e7a’s Anthony Gordon: LaLiga less forgiving than Premier League play<\/a>
– Jos\u00e9 Mourinho can’t explain shock Real Madrid loss at Betis<\/a><\/p>\n

“He’s doing great,” Flick said of Raphinha, who’s netted five goals in Bar\u00e7a’s opening three league games.<\/p>\n

“He’s the best option for us at the moment in this position. He starts the dynamic and the pressing because he has a lot of intensity and speed and helps us a lot.”<\/p>\n

Raphinha is expected to continue as the No. 9 on Sunday at Mestalla against Valencia even though Flick says new signing Gabriel Jesus<\/a> is “ready” to feature if required.<\/p>\n

Bar\u00e7a are looking to make it four wins from four in LaLiga and, at the same time, capitalise on Real Madrid<\/a>‘s loss to Real Betis<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n

Lamine Yamal is a doubt, though, but he will travel to Valencia with a decision to be made on his fitness closer to kick-off.<\/p>\n

“He had a hit and had some pain, so we said better that he trains separately [on Saturday],” Flick said.<\/p>\n

“After training he said, ‘OK everything is good.’ So he will travel and hopefully he will play.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raphinha has been appointed as Barcelona‘s captain for the 2026-27 season, becoming the first Brazilian to be handed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-81222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}