Antônio Wilson Vieira Honório (11 June 1943 – 11 March 2019), nicknamed Coutinho, was a Brazilian coach and

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 ...

who played as a forward for

Santos Futebol Clube Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the state of São Paulo's premier state league, as well as the Campeonato Brasileiro Sér ...

, where he was a teammate and one of the best partners of

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

, and became a member of the Brazil national team that won the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between ...

. He is considered one of the greatest strikers in the history of Brazilian football with 368 goals in 457 matches even though he prematurely ended his football career before the age of 30 due to knee problems. His main virtues as a striker were coldness and precision in finishing, the ability to dribble in tight spaces and a keen awareness of team play, which allowed him to make several one-two passes with Pelé in the midst of opponent defenses. In Brazil, during his time as a player, he received the nickname "genius of the small area" many years before other great Brazilian striker Romario. Pelé himself declares that "Coutinho, within the area, was better than me. His coldness was something supernatural".

Early years

Born in

Piracicaba Piracicaba ( ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality located in the Interior of São Paulo, interior of São Paulo (state), São Paulo state, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. It serves as the main city ...

State of São Paulo State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

in 1943 he was son of Antônia and Waldemar Honório. His start in football occurred in an unusual way, after fleeing his home in Piracibaba, in the countryside of São Paulo, to pursue his dream to become a professional football player. Coutinho was spotted at the age of 13 by Santos' coach Luís Alonso Pérez ("Lula") in a preliminary match of

XV de Piracicaba Esporte Clube XV de Novembro, commonly referred to as XV de Piracicaba, is a professional association football club based in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The club competes in the Série D, the fourth tier of the Brazilian football league sys ...

against Santos in his hometown. After being praised by

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

players during that match he decided travel to Santos and try his chances in becoming a professional football player for Santos. He borrowed some money and a suitcase and left Piracicaba directly to Santos, 231 km from his hometown. The day after his arrival in Santos, his father arrived desperately in Santos from Piracicaba and went to pick him up to go home. His father (Mr Waldemar Honório) didn't want to hear about it and left with his son directly to the bus station. They embarked back home, but the

board of directors placed an emissary following the bus by car. And, at the first stop, they convinced Coutinho's father that football was a good investment in the future. And that was how Coutinho returned to Santos, starting his career in professional football. One year later he became part of the Santos' lower division. At the age of 13 years and 11 months, Coutinho debuted as a professional player, a record never broken for any other players.

Club career

Coutinho debuted on Santos' professional team on May 17, 1958, still at the age of 14, in a match in Goiânia, against Sírio Libanês Futebol Clube. Coincidentally, the score was the same as the debut of his legendary partner Pelé, which had happened almost two years before: a 7–1 victory for Santos. And, like

, Coutinho also scored one of Peixe's goals in his first match for the club's adult squad. Coutinho madurga y pele mardelplata 1970

In a game at the Olympic Stadium, journalists and people at the stadium reported seeing one of the most beautiful goals in the history of football. Pelé received the ball in the midfield on his head and quickly passed it to Coutinho, who also with his head, gave it back to Pelé. And after a few more head-only passes the attacking players approached the opponent's box, without the ball touching the pitch. In the final moment, with only the goalkeeper in front of him, Coutinho could have finished the amazing combination himself with a goal, but he saw Lima coming from behind and adjusted to pass, once again with his head, and allowed Lima to score. This goal left the opponents Grêmio fans standing up, applauding a majestic goal combination between two maestros of the ball. Coutinho, in addition to resembling Pelé with his style of playing, also had physical characteristics similar to Pele. Therefore, a legend arose that the player started to wear a white ribbon on one of the arms, to help distinguish them. Regarding this urban legend, Coutinho said this: "For a short while, when I made a beautiful move, they said it was Pelé, when I missed a pass or a shot, it was Coutinho". In 2007, in an interview on the TV show "Juca Entrevista" (ESPN), with the journalist

Juca Kfouri José Carlos Amaral Kfouri, more commonly known as Juca Kfouri, (São Paulo, 4 March 1950) is a Brazilian sports journalist. Career A descendant of Lebanese immigrants, Juca Kfouri studied Social Sciences at the Faculty of Philosophy, Language ...

, he revealed why he used the prop: "I had a small wrist injury and started wearing a band for a while of adhesive tape. But as soon as the pains ended, I took it off." From 1958 to 1970, he wore the shirt of Santos, winning 19 titles and scoring 368 goals in 457 matches. In this period, he won alongside

five

Taça Brasil The Taça Brasil () was the Brazilian national football championship contested from 1959 to 1968. Bahia, Cruzeiro and Botafogo were the only champions to have played all phases of the tournament, because until the 1968 edition teams from Rio de ...

and seven

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

titles, two

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

, and two Intercontinental Cups. Coutinho has been named the greatest Santos' player after Pelé, with whom he formed an effective attacking duo with 1461 goals scored (370 by Coutinho). Coutinho also holds a mark of respect against one of Santos' main rivals, Corinthians. In 12 years of classics he played, he never lost a game. In the year that the taboo was broken, in 1968, Coutinho no longer worked for Santos. After his tenure at Santos, he also played for Vitória of

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

, Portuguesa of São Paulo, and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

International career

150px, Coutinho with the Brazil national team while drinking a coffee on the pitch in 1962 Coutinho made his first match for the Brazil national team in Uruguay, against the home team. He was only just 17 years old and was the starter in that match valid for the Atlantic Cup. At the international level, Coutinho earned 15 caps and scored 6 goals with the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team (), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' ("Canary Squad", after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Brazilian Football Co ...

between 1960 and 1965. He was meant to be a starter in the

squad, but he was sidelined by injury just before the tournament and did not appear, even though he remained in the squad. Brazil went on to win the title. In his book, ''Coutinho, o Gênio da Área'', Carlos Fernando Schinner states that

João Saldanha João Alves Jobin Saldanha (3 July 1917 – 12 July 1990) was a Brazilian journalism, journalist and association football, football manager. He coached the Brazil national football team during the South American Qualifying to the 1970 FIFA W ...

tried to convince Coutinho to return to

few months prior to the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

in order to replace

Tostão Eduardo Gonçalves de Andrade (born 25 January 1947), generally known as Tostão, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward or attacking midfielder and was a physician. Tostão was an intelligent, hardworking and p ...

who was Brazil's main centre-forward at that time and had suffered a major injury putting in doubt his participation on that World Cup. Coutinho, who at that time was semi-retired and overweight, refused the invitation.

Death

Coutinho died on 11 March 2019 in

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints''), officially Municipality of Estância Balneária de Santos, is a city and Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese n ...

. His death was caused by a

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

due to

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

and

hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...

. Coutinho's health had been deteriorating in recent months, and in January he had been hospitalized for

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Career Statistics

Honours

Club

;Santos FC *

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

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 ...

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 ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

Torneio Rio–São Paulo The Torneio Rio–São Paulo () was a traditional Brazilian football competition contested between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro teams from 1933 to 1966, in 1993 and from 1997 to 2002. Organized by the state football associations of the state o ...

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

* Torneio de Paris: 1960, 1961 * Taça das Américas: 1963 * Torneio Pentagonal do México: 1959 * Taça Tereza Herrera (Espanha): 1959 * Torneio de Valência (Espanha): 1959 * Torneio Dr. Mario Echandi (Costa Rica): 1959 * Torneio Giallorosso (Itália): 1960 * Quadrangular de Lima (Peru): 1960 * Torneio Itália 1961 (Itália): 1961 * Torneio Internacional da Costa Rica (Costa Rica): 1961 * Pentagonal de Guadalajara (México): 1961 * Torneio Internacional da Venezuela (Venezuela): 1965 * Hexagonal do Chile (Chile): 1965 * Torneio de Nova York (Estados Unidos): 1966

International

;Brazil *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Taça do Atlântico Taça do Atlântico (, ) was a national football team's competition held between 1956 and 1976 on an irregular basis, contested by the national football teams from South America. Teams participating were Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay ...

: 1960 * Copa Roca: 1963 *

Copa Bernardo O'Higgins Copa Bernardo O'Higgins () was a national football tournament disputed between Brazil and Chile, from 1955 to 1966. The competition, played on a two-legged format, was similar to other tournaments played at the time, such as the Roca Cup between ...

: 1961 * Taça Oswaldo Cruz: 1961, 1962

Individual

* Copa Libertadores Top Scorer:

* 1961 Taça Oswaldo Cruz (3 goals) * 1961

Top Scorer (9 goals) * 1962 Campeonato Brasileiro Top Scorer (7 goals) * 1964

Top Scorer (11 goals) ;Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coutinho 1943 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Piracicaba Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian football managers Afro-Brazilian sportspeople Brazil men's international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Copa Libertadores–winning players Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Santos FC players Esporte Clube Vitória players Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Atlas F.C. footballers Bangu Atlético Clube players São Paulo state football team players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Liga MX players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Santos FC managers Valeriodoce Esporte Clube managers Comercial Futebol Clube (Ribeirão Preto) managers Esporte Clube Santo André managers Associação Desportiva São Caetano managers Bonsucesso Futebol Clube managers Men's association football forwards Saad Esporte Clube players Deaths from diabetes in Brazil Copa Libertadores top scorers 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen