João Rafael

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Botev Vratsa
19 Dec 2026
Saturday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 31 Awards Matches History

Marked for João Rafael

19 Edition

The Botev Vratsa Post

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings7 Dec 2026

René Meléndez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match5 Dec 2026

4 matches without a win for Botev Vratsa

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Botev Vratsa are no longer polite ones.

Squad7 Dec 2026

Kristiyan Malinov falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad7 Dec 2026

João Rafael wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Botev Vratsa know it.

Squad7 Dec 2026

Ítalo signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ítalo and Botev Vratsa agree another 2 years.

Squad7 Dec 2026

A month that belonged to Daniil Veselov

The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Botev Vratsa who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.

In brief

Back issues
15 Edition

The Botev Vratsa Post

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad9 Nov 2026

Daniel Genov breaks a bone — 28 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Yoan Bornosuzov: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Botev Vratsa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Kristiyan Malinov falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Daniel Genov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botev Vratsa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

Martin Petkov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

The afternoon belonged to Milen Stoev

A mark of 7.28, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

In brief

11 Edition

The Botev Vratsa Post

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad12 Oct 2026

Daniel Genov breaks a bone — 56 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match10 Oct 2026

No end in sight to Botev Vratsa's wait for a win

9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Botev Vratsa has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings12 Oct 2026

Nobody could get near Martin Petkov

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Lazar Boyanov says Botev Vratsa went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Maksym Czekała gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Maksym Czekała has just signed for Botev Vratsa, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Daniil Veselov falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market12 Oct 2026

Talks stall between Botev Vratsa and João Rafael

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Match10 Oct 2026

Botev Vratsa draw a blank against Botev Plovdiv

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Botev Plovdiv defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

Market12 Oct 2026

Botev Vratsa add cover with Maksym Czekała

It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Maksym Czekała is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.

In brief