RSL’s newest acquisition, Designated Player Rwan Cruz, has arrived in Utah and is currently awaiting his International Transfer Certificate and P-1 visa approval in order to hopefully be eligible for RSL’s third Phase One Leagues Cup home match on August 6 against Queretaro, possibly making his Major League Soccer debut on Sunday, August 10, at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey against the New York Red Bulls. Tickets are available at www.RSL.com/tickets for yet another expected sellout in Sandy, which could potentially host an RSL v Liga MX Leagues Cup Quarterfinal on Aug. 19/20 prior to RSL’s next home MLS reg. season contest on Sat., August 23 against Minnesota United FC.
Here's some things you should know about Rwan as we welcome him to Utah:
- Rwan – born in Jaboatão dos Guararapes, a suburb of Recife, Brazil, on May 20, 2001, the 24-year-old Rwan Philipe Rodrigues de Souza Cruz – is the son of a bricklayer (a trade he learned during the 2020 pandemic when the soccer world shut down).
- This February, just six months ago, Cruz was purchased by Botafogo, one of the giant clubs in his native soccer-mad country, for $10 million in February after 18 months in Bulgaria, where he scored 24 goals in 50 league games between July, 2023, and February 2025 for Ludogorets Razgrad, for whom he also added a goal and four assists in UEFA competitions.
- Now just 24 years old after celebrating his May birthday just prior to this year’s FIFA Club World Cup, Cruz was teammates with former RSL player Jefferson Savarino at Botafogo, as well as former New York Red Bulls player Elias Manoel … According to Cruz, both players gave the 6-foot-2 forward positive reviews of RSL and MLS.
- This season with Botafogo, Cruz scored two goals in 16 matches across five competitions, including a prestigious Copa Libertadores goal in a 3-2 home victory of Estudiantes this May.
- On either side of his Bulgarian experience, Cruz played for three different Brazilian clubs, including the legendary Santos side as well as Vasco da Gama (the rumored landing spot for former RSL man Andrés Gómez!). Cruz made his professional debut in February, 2022, at the age of 18 for Santos in a home loss to São Paulo. Cruz scored his first professional goal three days later in a Copa do Brasil away win at Salgueiro. All told, he has scored seven goals in 53 games with the trio of Brazilian teams.
- Cruz is the third player on this year’s RSL’s roster to speak Portuguese as his primary language, joining fellow Designated Player Diogo Gonçalves, the Portugal international who joined the Claret-and-Cobalt a year ago, and goalkeeper and Captain Rafael Cabral, the Brazilian who had played 462 games in Italy, England and his native country prior to arriving on the Wasatch Front in January.
- Cruz – who loves to play video games, watch YouTube and TikTok and also wants to improve his tennis abilities when away from the soccer pitch – is addicted to his PlayStation setup, and jokes that he used to make sure Cabral was his goalkeeper when playing FIFA!
- In Major League Soccer’s 30-year history, Cruz is believed to be the 171st Brazilian to join MLS, and the 32nd active Brazilian player in the 2025 campaign, second only to Canada and Argentina in both categories amongst non-domestic foreigners.
- When he makes his Claret-and-Cobalt debut on the pitch, Cruz will be the sixth Brazilian to represent RSL, joining GK Rafael Cabral (27 appearances in 2025) and four previous Brazilians. Midfielder Everton Luiz played in 86 games for RSL from 2019-22 prior to his move to Beveren, while forward Paulo Junior repped RSL in 47 matches and scored seven goals from 2010-12. Another forward, Pablo Campos, won MLS Cup 2009 with RSL and scored twice while playing in 28 games from 2009-11, with holding midfielder Wellington Pecka appearing six times in the 2015 season.
