Rogério Oliveira da Costa


Rogério Oliveira da Costa was a Brazilian-born football striker. He was born in Foz do Iguaçu and became a naturalized Macedonian citizen.

Career

He played for FK Pobeda, FK Rabotnički, FK Vardar and FK Shkendija 79 in Macedonia, Royal Antwerp in Belgium, Trabzonspor and Vanspor in Turkey and PAS Giannina in Greece. He's the first Brazilian to play in the Macedonian league, which he played in Macedonia since 1997, and acquired Macedonian citizenship shortly before his death in Skopje of a heart attack at the age of 30.
In the 1998-99 season, while playing for FK Pobeda, he was the Macedonian First League top scorer with 22 goals, and was also awarded as the best foreign player of that season by the Macedonian Football Federation. By many football fans in Macedonia, he is regarded as the best foreign player ever to have played in Macedonia.