Antônio Lima dos Santos (18 January 1942 – 3 February 2025), known as Lima, was a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Widely known for his versatility, he played mainly as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, but also acted as a full-back at either side and as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

São Sebastião do Paraíso São Sebastião do Paraíso is a Brazilian municipality located in the southwest of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population as of 2020 was 71,445 people living in a total area of 822 km². The city belongs to the meso-region of Sul e Sudo ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, Lima joined Juventus-SP's youth setup at early age and was promoted to the first team in 1959. In 1961, already a first-choice, he moved to Santos, becoming a starter at the

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

as the club's midfielder was captain Zito. Lima only moved to his original position in 1965, after the arrival of

Carlos Alberto Torres Carlos Alberto "Capita" Torres (17 July 1944 – 25 October 2016), also known as "O Capitão do Tri", was a Brazilian football player and manager who played as an attacking right-sided full-back or wing-back. A technically gifted defender wi ...

. He left the club in 1971 after accepting an offer from

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

, ending his time at Santos by playing nearly 700 matches and winning every title that a Brazilian club team could win at that time, most notably the Intercontinental Cup of

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

; at the latter's final, he trademarked his versatility after playing as a striker. In 1974, Lima returned to Brazil and joined

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club () is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighbourhood of Laranjeiras, in Rio de Janeiro, being the oldest football club in the state since its foundation in 1902. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, th ...

. In the following year, he represented

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

for the final two matches of the

1975 NASL Indoor tournament In early 1975, the North American Soccer League (1968–84), North American Soccer League hosted its first league-wide indoor soccer tournament over the course of seven weeks. All but four NASL teams participated. Overview Though the Dallas Torn ...

, and ended his career with

Portuguesa Santista Portuguesa is a Portuguese language, Portuguese, Catalan language, Catalan, and Spanish language, Spanish feminine adjective meaning "Portuguese". It may also refer to: Places *Portuguesa (state), one of the 23 states of Venezuela *Portuguesa (Ri ...

International career

Lima earned 14 caps for the Brazil national team, and was part of the team at the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

, playing in all three of Brazil's matches.

Death

Lima died from kidney disease on 3 February 2025, at the age of 83.

References

External links

NASL stats
1942 births 2025 deaths People from São Sebastião do Paraíso Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Minas Gerais Copa Libertadores–winning players Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Clube Atlético Juventus players Santos FC players Fluminense FC players Associação Atlética Portuguesa (Santos) players São Paulo state football team players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Brazil men's international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen Deaths from kidney disease {{Brazil-footy-defender-1940s-stub