Manoel Nunes (March 7, 1895 – May 31, 1977), also known as Neco, was an association football

midfielder 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 ...

. With great skill and tenacity, he was the first idol of

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

, being the first player to get a statue in the team's gardens (in 1929). As of 2006, Neco is the player who played the longest for Corinthians: 17 years. Called often to the Brazilian national team, he won two South American Championships:

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

(team's top scorer) and

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(top scorer). Playing for Corinthians, he won the Paulista League eight times as a player (being top scorer in 1914 and 1920) and once as a coach (1937). Neco had a quick temper and frequently got involved in fights; his second stint as a manager occurred because he was suspended as a player for 18 games when he beat a referee. He started in the third team of Corinthians at the age of 16 and joined the first team in 1913 (the first year Corinthians participated in official competitions). In 1915, Corinthians did not play official games because of political issues and almost went bankrupt; this year, Neco played friendlies for Corinthians and the official games for Mackenzie. During this time, he broke into the Corinthians building to retrieve books that the landlord had locked inside due to non-payment of the rent. After scoring two goals playing for Brazil against Uruguay in the 2x2 tie valid for the 1919 South American Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Neco returned to his regular job as a carpenter in São Paulo and was fired for missing work.

Statistical career overview

Player

Teams: * 1917–1922:

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 ...

(14 matches / 9 goals / official internationals only) * 1913–1914:

SC Corinthians Paulista Sport Club Corinthians Paulista () is a Brazilian sports club based in the Tatuapé district of São Paulo. Although competing in a number of different sports, Corinthians is mostly known for its professional association football team that plays ...

* 1915:

AA Mackenzie College AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Do ...

* 1916–1930:

Honours: *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

: 1914, 1916, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1930 Top Scorer: *

(4 goals) *

: 1914 (12 goals) *

: 1920 (24 goals)

Coach

Clubs: *

: 1920, 1927, 1937–38 Honours: *

: 1937

External links

Profile at cbf.com.br
{{Authority control 1895 births 1977 deaths Footballers from São Paulo Brazilian footballers Brazil international footballers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Association football midfielders Brazilian football managers Sport Club Corinthians Paulista managers Copa América-winning players Association football forwards