José Reinaldo de Lima (born 11 January 1957) is a former

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

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 le ...

who played as a striker. He is popularly known as ''Reinaldo'' or ''Rei'' (The King). Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers in the history of Brazilian football, Reinaldo played most of his career for

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, is considered by many the most important player in the club, and still holds the record of highest goal average per game in the Brazilian league, with 1.55 goals per match in the 1977 Brazilian Championship, at a time when

was regarded to have one of the best teams in the world. Legendary Brazilian midfielder Zico considered him the best player he had ever seen, believing that he would have been the greatest Brazilian player after

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

if not for injuries.

Clubs and years active

Reinaldo played 30 matches and scored 14 goals for the Brazilian national team between July 1975 and May 1985, including the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

, where he scored one goal against Sweden. He also scored the qualifying goal for Brazil's participation in the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

held in Spain, but was not included on the team, apparently due to injury.

Records and awards

Reinaldo scored a club record of 255 goals for

Clube Atlético Mineiro Clube Atlético Mineiro (), commonly known as Atlético Mineiro or Atlético, and colloquially as Galo (, "Rooster"), is the largest professional football club based in the city of Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Mi ...

. He also averaged 1.55 goals per match in the 1977 season—scoring 28 goals in 18 matches— the record average for the Brazilian League, for which Atlético supporters nicknamed him ''The King'' ("o Rei", in Portuguese, which also served as a pun on his name). He won eight

Campeonato Mineiro Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF (Federação Mineira de Futebol). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: befor ...

titles including six consecutively: in 1976, 1978–1983 and 1985.

Subsequent career

Reinaldo is still remembered by Atlético Mineiro supporters. In 2004, he was elected in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...

to represent the ''Partido dos Trabalhadores'' (Brazilian Workers' Party).

Honours

Club

Atlético Mineiro

Copa dos Campeões da Copa Brasil The Copa dos Campeões da Copa Brasil (Copa Brasil Champions Cup) was an official football competition organized in 1978 by the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD), predecessor of the Brazilian Football Confederation, and contested by past winner ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 e 1983

International

Brazil

* Taça da França: 1981 * Taça da Inglaterra: 1981

Individual

* Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Top Scorer: 1977 (28 goals) * Bola de Prata da Revista Placar (artilheiro do Campeonato Brasileiro - 28 gols: 1977) * Bola de Prata da Revista Placar (seleção do Campeonato Brasileiro: 1977 e 1983)

Record

* Top scorer with the highest average of goals in a single Brazilian Championship (28 goals in 18 matches, average of 1.55 per game): 1977

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinaldo 1957 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian football managers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Association football forwards 1975 Copa América players 1978 FIFA World Cup players Brazil international footballers Brazilian sportsperson-politicians Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Workers' Party (Brazil) politicians Clube Atlético Mineiro players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Atlético Rio Negro Clube players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players BK Häcken players SC Telstar players Valeriodoce Esporte Clube managers Esporte Clube Mamoré managers Villa Nova Atlético Clube managers Ipatinga Futebol Clube managers