2024-01-07 07:01:46
“Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo was one of the greatest football players and coaches of all time, a great winner and symbol of love for the Brazilian team and for Brazil.” With those words, the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, yesterday said goodbye to the legendary soccer player and coach, the only four-time soccer world champion, who died on Friday at the age of 92. The neighboring country declared three days of national mourning.
“Brave, dedicated, passionate and superstitious, Zagallo was an example of a Brazilian who never gave up. It is this lesson and spirit of affection, love, dedication and improvement that he leaves for our entire country and for world football,” added the Brazilian president.
Zagallo died on Friday, at the age of 92, of multiple organ failure, reported the Barra D’Or hospital in Rio de Janeiro, where he had been treated for a series of health problems in recent months.
“Zagallo’s influence on football, and on Brazilian football in particular, is supreme,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino, calling him a “tactical genius.”
“He will be remembered as the godfather of Brazilian football and his presence will be deeply missed… The story of the World Cup cannot be told without Mário Zagallo,” Infantino added.
The wake took place yesterday at the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in Rio de Janeiro and today his remains will be buried in the Sao Joao Batista cemetery, in the Botafogo neighborhood of the Cidade Maravilhosa.
Only. Born on August 9, 1931 in the city of Maceió (northeast), capital of the state of Alagoas, in a family of Lebanese and Italian origin, Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo debuted as a professional player in 1948 in the modest club America, from Rio de Janeiro. Janeiro. He then played eight seasons for Flamengo and seven for Botafogo.
Zagallo, the only person to win four soccer World Cups, was hospitalized in Rio de Janeiro in August for a urinary infection.
Big story. As a left winger, Old Wolf was part of the Brazilian team that won the World Cups in Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962 along with Pelé, the first two won by the Canarinha.
In addition, he was Brazil’s coach in the 1970 Mexico title and technical assistant in the 1994 United States triumph, and again technical director in France 1998 when Scratch lost the final against the local team, led by Zinedine Zidane.
The only other two athletes to win the World Cup as a footballer and coach have been the German Franz Beckenbauer (1974 and 1990) and the French Didier Deschamps (1998 and 2018).
The president of the CBF, Ednaldo Rodrigues, decreed an official seven-day mourning for Zagallo’s death. “The CBF and Brazilian football mourn the death of one of their greatest legends, Mário Zagallo,” he published. Several Brazilian clubs began to pay tribute to the idol on their official social networks.
“He left us a hero who shaped the history of Brazilian football. Zagallo enters for eternity as a revolutionary, a historical pillar of sport,” reads a note published by Flamengo, his former team for eight years as a player.
“Eternal Zagallo has 13 letters, Our King Pelé awaits you in the sacred kingdom,” Santos, the historic team of the King of Soccer, wrote in X, alluding to Zagallo’s preference for that number.
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