Dario José dos Santos (born 4 March 1946), nicknamed Dario or Dadá Maravilha (Wonder Dadá), is a Brazilian former

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

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

Career

Born into poverty, Dadá began his career in 1965, playing in the youth squad of

Campo Grande Campo Grande (, ) is a city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, central and western Regions of Brazil, region of Brazil, Capital city, capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Historically a Fortification, stronghold of Separatism, separatists ...

, a small and modest club with no great history in Rio. His style and talent caught the eye of a scout working 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 ...

, a large and very traditional club from the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, who signed him in 1968. In 1969 his prestige was so great that then Brazilian President

Emílio Garrastazu Médici Emílio Garrastazu Médici (; 4 December 1905 – 9 October 1985) was a Brazilian military leader and politician who was the 28th president of Brazil from 1969 to 1974. His authoritarian rule marked the apex of the Brazilian military regime. ...

asked coach Mário Zagallo to call Dadá to join the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

going to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. He was benched for most of the tournament, however. In total he was capped 6 times for Brazil between 1970 and 1973. In 1971, Dadá helped Atlético win its first Campeonato Brasileiro title, scoring the only goal in the final match against

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. He played for Atlético until 1973, when he transferred over to

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

. After another brief stint with Atlético, he played for

Sport Club do Recife Sport Club do Recife (), commonly known as Sport Recife or simply Sport, is a Brazilian sports club, located in Recife, Pernambuco. Founded in 1905, the club currently competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top tier of football i ...

in the 1974–75 season, where he helped the team win the

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

state championship. In April 1976 he scored 10 goals in a game against Santo Amaro (14–0), a record for the Brazilian football in official matches (previous one held by

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 ...

). In 1976, he was signed by Internacional de Porto Alegre for what was, at the time, one of the biggest transactions in Brazilian football. In contrast to great players in the Internacional roster at the time, such as Figueroa, Falcão, Pablo Cesar and Valdomiro, Dadá was perceived as clumsy and slow, but his great positioning and finishing made him one of the greatest strikers in the history of the club. He was the top scorer of the 1976 Brazilian Championship, scoring 16 goals for Internacional, including the first goal in the final match against Corinthians, which Internacional won 2–0. He signed with Ponte Preta in 1977 but sat out for most of the year while recovering from

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 ...

. He returned to Atlético Mineiro for the 1978–1979 season, but wasn't as successful. From 1979 to 1986, he played for several different teams of less prestige like Náutico, Santa Cruz,

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 ...

and

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

, finally ending his career at Comercial Esporte Clube, a club from

Registro Registro is a city near the Atlantic coast of São Paulo, Brazil. The population is 56,393 (2020 est.) in an area of 722 km2. The elevation is 25 m. Registro in Portuguese means register, and this name was given to the city because it was th ...

, in

São Paulo state SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

. Throughout his career, his talent for scoring goals and sympathy with the fans earned him many nicknames, including "Dario Peito-de-aço" (''Iron Chest Dario''), "Rei Dadá" (''King Dadá'') and "Dadá Beija-Flor" (''Dadá the Hummingbird''), the latter a reference to his great impulse, which made him seemingly stop in mid-air. Dada's pre-match declarations were much sought after by sport beat reporters as he had the flair of coining names to goals yet to be scored by himself on any given match. He is also notorious for having coined many catch phrases which are still remembered and used by many Brazilian fans, such as "There's no such thing as an ugly goal, what's ugly is not scoring".

Honours

As a Player

Club

;Atlético Mineiro *

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

: 1970, 1978 *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

;Flamengo *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

: 1974 ;Sport *

Campeonato Pernambucano The Campeonato Pernambucano is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. It is run by the Pernambuco Football Federation (FPF). History The first edition of the Campeonato Pernambucano was played i ...

: 1975 ;Internacional *

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga (company), Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight profess ...

: 1976 *

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

;Bahia *

Campeonato Baiano The Campeonato Baiano (), also known as the Baianão (), is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Run by the Bahia Football Federation (FBF), it is the second-oldest state football championship o ...

: 1981, 1982 ;Goiás *

Campeonato Goiano The Campeonato Goiano is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders th ...

: 1983 ;Nacional-AM * Campeonato Amazonense: 1984

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 ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

As a Manager

;Ypiranga Clube *

Campeonato Amapaense The Campeonato Amapaense, commonly known simply as Amapazão, or Amapazão Sicredi for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Amapá Amapá (; ) is one of the 26 federative units o ...

: 1994

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maravilha, Dada 1946 births Living people Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian men's footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players 1970 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Brazil men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Campo Grande Atlético Clube players Clube Atlético Mineiro players CR Flamengo footballers Sport Club do Recife players SC Internacional players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Paysandu Sport Club players Clube Náutico Capibaribe players Santa Cruz Futebol Clube players Esporte Clube Bahia players Goiás Esporte Clube players Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Atlético Rio Negro Clube players Nacional Futebol Clube players Esporte Clube XV de Novembro (Piracicaba) players 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen