Júlio Botelho, also known as ''Julinho'' (; 29 July 1929 – 10 January 2003) was a Brazilian football player. He was primarily a

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Known for his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

ability and powerful shot, Julinho is regarded as one of the greatest wingers in football history. He was selected by Eric Batty in the ''World Soccer Magazine'' world XI in 1960.

Club career

Julinho was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

. During his career (1951–1967), he played for Portuguesa,

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

and

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

. In

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, he was a team member of

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

and was a key member of the squad which won the Italian title in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

. In 1957, he participated in the club's

1957 European Cup Final The 1957 European Cup Final was a football match played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on 30 May 1957 to determine the winners of the 1956–57 European Cup. It was contested between Real Madrid of Spain and Fiorentina of Italy ...

, a 2–0 loss to Real Madrid.

International career

Julinho played for

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 ...

at the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

in Switzerland, scoring two goals. He was also a member of the squad that won the

1952 Panamerican Championship The 1952 Panamerican Championship was the first edition of the Panamerican Championship, an association football tournament featuring national teams from North, Central and South America. Organized by the Panamerican Football Confederation, this fi ...

, and that finished runners-up in the

1953 South American Championship The South American Championship 1953 was a football tournament held in Peru and won by Paraguay with Brazil second. Argentina, and Colombia withdrew from the tournament. Francisco Molina from Chile became top scorer of the tournament with ...

and the 1964 Taça das Nações. In total, he made 24 international appearances between 1952 and 1965, scoring 11 goals.

Style of play

A highly creative, talented, and dynamic player, with a slender build, Julinho usually played as a right winger, where he operated as a playmaker, and was known for his speed, vision, tactical sense, powerful shooting ability, and

skills, which enabled him to cut into the centre and shoot on goal or create chances for other players. He was also known for his ability to build attacking plays, or get to the touchline and deliver accurate

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

to his teammates. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and as one of Brazil's best wingers ever.

After retirement

Julinho was nominated the best player in the history of

in 1996.

Death

He died at the age of 73 on 10 January 2003.

Honours

Club

; Portuguesa * Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1952, 1955 ;

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

: 1955–56 * European Cup: Runner-up 1956–57 ;

* Campeonato Paulista: 1959, 1963 * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 1960 * Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1965 * Copa Libertadores: Runner-up 1968

Individual

World Soccer Magazine ''World Soccer'' is an English-language football magazine, published by Kelsey Media. The magazine was established in 1960 and is the oldest continually published football magazine in the United Kingdom. It specialises in the international fo ...

World XI: 1960 * Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame * Inducted in ACF Fiorentina Hall of Fame

References

External links

* * 1929 births 2003 deaths Brazilian footballers ACF Fiorentina players Fluminense FC players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Brazil international footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Serie A players Association football forwards Footballers from São Paulo {{Brazil-footy-forward-1920s-stub