Having started at
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista,
São Paulo-born Rubinho played his first four professional seasons there. In January 2006 he signed with
Portugal's
Vitória de Setúbal, helping the
Sadinos achieve a final comfortable
eighth position in the
Primeira Liga. Subsequently, Rubinho moved to
Italy's
Serie B, joining
Genoa C.F.C. where he was an undisputed starter from early on, achieving promotion to
Serie A in
his first season (29 games played). He appeared in the exact number of matches in
the following campaign, as the team ranked tenth. On 6 August 2009, Rubinho joined
U.S. Città di Palermo signing a five-year contract, with
Marco Amelia, whom occupied the same position, moving in the opposite direction – both players were valued at
€5 million. He was loaned out to
A.S. Livorno Calcio on February of the following year, after losing his place to young
Salvatore Sirigu. On 29 June 2010,
A.C. Chievo Verona initially agreed with Palermo to sign Rubinho on loan, subject to
Stefano Sorrentino's sale. The deal eventually collapsed but, on 31 August, he signed for second-tier club
Torino F.C., also on loan. Despite Sirigu refusing to sign a new contract with Palermo and being eventually cast aside, Benussi was used in the
2011–12 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, which ended in elimination at the hands of
FC Thun, and Rubinho even lost his second-choice status for that tie, with
Giacomo Brichetto taking his place. On 16 December 2011, he terminated his contract with the club. On 29 August 2012, after training with
Grêmio Barueri Futebol in his country and going on trial with
A.S. Varese 1910, even signing with the latter, Rubinho joined
Juventus FC on a one-year deal. During his spell, he played second-fiddle to
Gianluigi Buffon and
Marco Storari, although he became known as a key dressing room personality for the
Turin side. He made his competitive debut on 18 May 2013, coming on for Storari in the 80th minute of a 2–3 away defeat to
U.C. Sampdoria on the final match of
the season as the club had already been crowned champions; subsequently, he renewed his contract. In late June 2014, he agreed to another extension. On 30 August 2015, whilst on
the bench of an away fixture against
A.S. Roma, Rubinho received a straight
red card in the 65th minute of the eventual 1–2 loss for unsportsmen-like conduct. After four seasons with the club, he left Juventus on 30 June 2016 following the expiration of his contract. On 13 January 2017, however, the club's general director announced that his contract with the club had been cancelled, for personal reasons. The following day, he signed with his former club Genoa. On 31 December, Rubinho signed a one–year contract with
Avaí in his home country. ==International career==