The CBF has chosen Rafael Rodrigo Klein to referee Fortaleza vs Palmeiras in the second leg of the Copa do Brasil round of 16, a match set for Wednesday, August 5, at 21:30 Brasília time at Arena Pantanal in Cuiabá. The appointment puts the 36-year-old official from Poço das Antas, Rio Grande do Sul, at the center of one of the most closely watched knockout games on the calendar.
That is why the search for Fortaleza vs Palmeiras is peaking now: the match is no longer a fixture on a schedule, but a game with an assigned referee, a set venue and a fixed kickoff. Klein’s path to this assignment has been built over years. He studied Physical Education at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, began in arbitration during college when he worked an internal university tournament, completed the refereeing course of the Federação Gaúcha de Futebol in 2012 and started officiating official state matches in 2014.
He joined the CBF refereeing staff in 2021, debuted in Série A on October 5, 2022, in Athletico-PR against Fortaleza, and was named the best referee of the Campeonato Gaúcho in 2023. That same year, he handled 36 CBF matches, including 23 in the Brazilian first division, and in 2024 he was added to FIFA's international refereeing list. The appointment to a Copa do Brasil round-of-16 second leg fits that rise, at least on paper, because it places him in a match where every call carries immediate consequence.
Yet the selection does not arrive in a vacuum. Klein has already drawn criticism from clubs and observers after previous matches, including a Flamengo complaint tied to an appointment in Chapecó, and he was at the center of a 2024 controversy after the São Paulo and Corinthians derby in the Campeonato Brasileiro. His decisions have also been questioned in incidents that linger in memory, from the non-ejection of Carrascal after a challenge on Breno Bidon in the Supercopa do Brasil to the yellow card shown to Felipinho for a hard foul on Lucas Paquetá in a match against Athletico-PR. Critics also say he stops matches too often by calling too many fouls.
That mix of status and scrutiny is what makes this designation matter now. On Wednesday, Klein will walk into Arena Pantanal with a second-leg knockout tie behind him and no room for the sort of uncertainty that can follow a referee from one match to the next. The unanswered question is not who will take charge; it is whether this appointment tells us the CBF sees him as ready for the pressure that comes with it.
