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Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more

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There is a misconception about Pimenta that she has stepped into the role left by Mino Raiola’s untimely death in April 2020.

Pimenta did work closely with one of football’s most controversial characters but right from the start, she was her own woman; it was one of the main reasons Raiola wanted to work with her, and tracked her down in her native Brazil after an earlier encounter when, as a qualified lawyer, she was asked to act as an interpreter on a deal.

“He said I was the only one who said no to him and because all the others just wanted his money, they would say yes to the craziest projects,” she recalls.

“I thought it would last five minutes. It lasted 35 years.”

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Sadly, not all her experiences in that time were positive, especially when it comes to gender inequality.

“When I was doing this years ago, there were very few women in deciding positions,” said Pimenta.

“There was Marina [Granovskaia] at Chelsea but overall, you could count them on your fingers.

“What I would see were many women working in clubs doing lots of things that were decision-making but not being recognized.

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“It was a sort of a corridor, and it would always be the same. Scouting, technical, secretary, decision-maker. You would walk past everybody and get to the last door. Behind the last door would be a man.”

Pimenta says she was helped in her own career by women who responded to the fact she gained entry to the final ‘door’.

However, the response of the men whose domain she was entering was often negative.

“We have come a long way from a first meeting I had with a sports director who said to me, ‘you really exist, I thought you were a hooker from Brazil’, to where we are today but many men still use gender to unbalance you.

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“They might talk behind my back to make me feel I’m fragile or have less power.”

Pimenta recounts a story from two years ago, she haggled over a contract with a club in the presence of a lawyer she hired purely for his expertise in writing the language she was negotiating in.

Once the deal was struck, the club official said to the lawyer ‘you taught her well’.

“The guy meant it as a compliment,” said Pimenta. “He was trying to be nice. It was unbelievable.”

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Nothing he’s going to do on the Champions Tour

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Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee opened up about Tiger Woods’ future in golf after his arrest. The American golfer turned 50 in December 2025 and is now eligible to play on the Champions Tour.

He had been away from the greens for a while. Chamblee opened up about Woods’ future this week.

“He’s done his work in the game of golf,” Chamblee said. “Nothing he’s going to do on the Champions Tour, with all due respect, to senior golf, we all love it, but it will add nothing really to his legacy.”

“And you know, it’s clear that since 2021 when he’s come back, he can’t play at a competitive level on the PGA Tour….His body just won’t let him do what his talents have previously let him do. That seems like the only circumstance that would alleviate this problem. Beyond that, you just hope that he gets the care and the help that he needs.”

Tiger Woods has not played in any tournament on the PGA Tour since his last outing at the Open Championship 2024. That season, he played in five events and withdrew from the Genesis Invitational. He missed the cut in three majors and settled in 60th place at the Masters.

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Tiger Woods opens up about plans to play at the Masters

Tiger Woods is expected to play at the Masters 2026. He played in the TGL final game on Tuesday, and at the event’s press conference, he talked about his plans to play in the major.

“As I said, I’ve been trying,” Woods said. “Just this body is — it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying. I’ve been trying for a while. I’ve had a couple bad injuries here over the past years that I’ve had to fight through and it’s taken some time.

“But I keep trying. I want to play. I love the tournament. I’ve loved being there since I was 19 years old. It’s meant a lot to me and my family over the years. I’m going to be there either way with The Loop that’s going up there, as well as the Champions Dinner,” he added.

However, before he could make a comeback, the American golfer had an unfortunate accident. Tiger Woods crashed his car on Friday near his house in Jupiter Island, Florida. He was arrested for driving under the influence and also for property damage.

He was jailed for a few hours before being released on bail. Now it would be interesting to see how things unfold for the American golfer in the future. The 2026 Masters will start with its opening round on April 9 and conclude with its final round on April 12.