Wanderley Machado da Silva (3 June 1938 – 5 March 2020), known simply as Wanderley, was a Brazilian

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Born in

Niterói Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Wanderley began his career at

CR Vasco da Gama Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama (), commonly referred as Vasco da Gama or simply Vasco, is a professional sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Originally a rowing club, Vasco is mostly known for its football team, who it currently compet ...

. Profiting from his brother's signature with

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

he also moved to Europe, but after being shown the door by the latter club, joined neighbouring

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

. In 1962 Wanderley signed for

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

also in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, being only registered on 1 January 1963. He enjoyed a prolific first season, scoring 12 goals in only 16 matches and being promoted to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

. Wanderley made his debut in the Spanish top division on 15 September 1963, in a 4–4 away draw against

RCD Español Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

. He scored his first goal in the competition on the 28th, but in a 5–3 loss at Valencia. Wanderley was an ever-present figure for the ''Granotes'' in the following campaigns, scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 4–2 home victory over

Atlético Ceuta Agrupación Deportiva Ceuta Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1956, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home matches at ''Estadio Alfonso Murube'' with a capacity of 6 ...

on 15 January 1967. He left the club in that year's summer, and subsequently represented

CD Málaga Club Deportivo Málaga was a Spanish football club based in Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It played twenty seasons in La Liga, before being dissolved in 1992. History Origins The first football club in Málaga was establ ...

and

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

, retiring with the latter in 1972.

International career

Wanderley appeared with the Brazilian under-23s at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, appearing in all of the matches and scoring in a 4–3 win against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. The nation was eliminated in the group stage by hosts Italy.

Personal life and death

Wanderley's older brother,

Waldo Waldo may refer to: People * Waldo (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Waldo (surname), a list of people * Waldo (footballer) (1934-2019), full name Waldo Machado da Silva, Brazilian footballer Places Canada * Waldo, ...

, was also a footballer and a forward. He spent most of his career with

Fluminense FC 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, ...

and Valencia, and the pair were teammates at Hércules. Wanderley settled in the Valencian municipality of

Massanassa Massanassa is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Sud in the Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most popu ...

after retiring. On 5 March 2020, he died due to

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

at the age of 81.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wanderley 1938 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Niterói Afro-Brazilian sportspeople Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football forwards CR Vasco da Gama players La Liga players Segunda División players Elche CF players Levante UD footballers CD Málaga footballers Hércules CF players Olympic footballers for Brazil Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Deaths from dementia in Spain Deaths from Alzheimer's disease