Renata Costa

Career

She has played as a creative midfielder for Brazil's Botucatu FC since 2005, and was a member of the Brazilian National Teams that won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics. She is known for her precise passing and goal scoring prowess.
In January 2008 Costa signed for Danish Elitedivisionen club OB Odense. Her new coach described her as a strong midfielder with good technique who could score goals and also play in defence. It was reported that Costa's transfer was one of the first involving Brazilian female players to generate a profit for the selling club.
On 24 September 2008, Costa's American transfer rights were drafted by the Saint Louis Athletica in the 2008 WPS International Draft. Instead of joining the new American franchise, she accepted a competing offer from LdB FC Malmö of the Swedish Damallsvenskan. LdB FC took over the final year of Costa's Odense contract, paying an undisclosed transfer fee to the Danish club.
In January 2014, Russian Top Division club Kubanochka Krasnodar announced the triple signing of Costa and her compatriots Danielli and Amanda Brunner. The club reached the 2014 Russian Women's Cup final, but were beaten 5–0 by Ryazan-VDV. The Brazilian players were awarded new one-year contracts by Kubanochka in February 2015.
Upon her return to Brazil, Costa joined Corinthians, who had reformed in conjunction with Grêmio Osasco Audax Esporte Clube and were known as Corinthians Audax. After helping Corinthians Audax to win the 2016 Copa do Brasil de Futebol Feminino, she signed for ambitious Amazonas-based Iranduba in October 2017.
Despite playing as a midfielder at club level, with Brazil she played as a sweeper, notably alongside centre-backs Tânia and Aline.

Car accident

In October 2007, Costa crashed her Opel Corsa into another car at a level crossing. She and front seat passenger Michele suffered minor injuries. Another Botucatu teammate, 16-year-old Cátia Oliveira, was asleep in the back seat and suffered a spinal cord injury, resulting in paraplegia. Costa was fined $576 for driving without a licence. Cátia, who had been called up to the Brazil women's national under-17 football team on the day of the accident, later trained as a para table tennis player and represented Brazil at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.