Waldyr Pereira (8 October 1928 – 12 May 2001), also known as Didi (), 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

or as a forward. He played in three

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 ...

s (

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

, and

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 ...

), winning the latter two. An elegant and technical player, Didi was renowned for his range of passing, stamina and technique. He also was a free-kick specialist, being famous for inventing the '' folha seca'' (dry leaf) dead ball free kicks, notably used by modern-day players such as

Juninho Juninho, Portuguese for "little Junior", is a common nickname in Brazil for those whose full name includes Júnior. It is often combined with an epithet, sometimes a demonym (a word derived from their place of origin). The following association foo ...

and

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

, where the ball would swerve downward unexpectedly at a point resulting in a goal."Kings of the free-kick"
FIFA.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014 During his career, he was part of Fluminense between the end of the 1940s to the mid-1950s and one of the main players of the iconic squad of

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 ...

in the early 1960s with other world champions such as

Garrincha Manuel Francisco dos Santos (28 October 1933 – 20 January 1983), nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha (, "little bird"), was a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, righ ...

, Nilton Santos, Zagallo and Amarildo.

Early life

Didi was born into a poor family in the city of

Campos dos Goytacazes Campos dos Goytacazes () is a city located in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, with a population of 483,540 inhabitants. It is the largest city in Rio de Janeiro (state) outside of the Greater Rio de Janeiro metropolitan ar ...

, 150 miles north of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. As a youngster, he sold peanuts in order to help his family, and began playing football in the streets and nearly had his right leg amputated when he was 14 due to a severe

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

following an injury to his knee. He later recovered and played for local clubs in his hometown.

Playing career

He became professional playing for Madureira and came to prominence when he joined Fluminense in 1949. At Fluminense, Didi played between 1949 and 1956, the club for which he played the longest time without interruption, having played 298 matches and scored 91 goals, being one of the main responsible for winning the 1951 Carioca Championship, in addition to scoring the first goal in the history of Maracanã for the Carioca Selection in 1950, defending his childhood club, and leading the Brazil National team in winning the 1952 Panamerican Championship, disputed in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, in the first relevant achievement of the Brazil national team abroad, having played alongside Djalma Santos, Castilho, Waldo, Telê Santana, Orlando Pingo de Ouro,

Altair Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila (constellation), Aquila and the list of brightest stars, twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinisation of name ...

and Pinheiro, among others. During seven seasons with the club he won the

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 ...

in 1951 and

1952 Copa Rio The 1952 Copa Rio was the second and last edition of the Copa Rio (international tournament), Copa Rio, the first intercontinental club football tournament with teams from Europe and South America, held in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo from 12 July ...

. On 16 June 1950, in a friendly match involving

and

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

youth state teams, Didi (aged 21), playing for Rio de Janeiro, scored the first ever goal at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium (, ; named after the Maracanã River), officially known as Jornalista Mário Filho Stadium (, ; , named after Mário Filho), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Located in the Maracanã neighbor ...

. During the 1954 World Cup he scored goals against

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 ...

and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, before Brazil's defeat to the favorites

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. This match was known as the Battle of Berne; Didi was involved with the brawl that followed this bad-tempered match. At club level, he moved to

, winning the ''

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 ...

'' (Rio state championship) in 1957. Didi had previously promised to walk from the Maracanã to his house, in the neighbourhood of

Laranjeiras Laranjeiras (, ''orange trees'') is an upper-middle-class neighborhood located in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Primarily residential, It is one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, having been founded in the 17th century, with the ...

(9,4 km), in his kit, if Botafogo won the championship; 5,000 Botafogo fans joined him as he did so. His greatest achievement came at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

where he was player of the tournament. From midfield, he masterminded the first of his two FIFA World Cup successes for Brazil. In 68 international matches he scored 20 goals, including a dozen using his trademark free-kicks. In 1959, he was signed by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

of Spain, playing alongside many historical players such as

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

, Alfredo Di Stefano and

Francisco Gento Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as an outside left. A fast runner, Gento was referred to as the "Gale of the Cantabrian Sea" () in reference to his spee ...

. Despite his great reputation after the 1958 FIFA World Cup, he played only 19 matches with six goals for the Spaniards and often clashed with the team leader

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé (; 4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was an Argentine professional footballer and coach who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Nicknamed "Saeta Rubia" ("Blond A ...

, who felt offended by the divide in the fans' attention with this newcomer; this situation precipitated his exit from the club. Nevertheless, despite his brief stint as a player for Real Madrid, he was able to participate in the victorious campaign of

1959–60 European Cup The 1959–60 European Cup was the fifth season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 in the final at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on 18 May 1960, th ...

, becoming the first Brazilian player to win both the FIFA World Cup and the European Cup. After Real Madrid he came back to Botafogo being part one of the most successful Brazilian teams at club level of all times. The Botafogo in the early 60s with the well-known

, Nilton Santos, Zagallo, Amarildo, Quarentinha and the very promising youngsters such as

Manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

, Gérson, Rildo and Jairzinho. At the time, Botafogo was the only club in national level able to compete against the Santos 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 ...

. After almost three successful years with Botafogo, he signed with

Sporting Cristal Club Sporting Cristal S.A., shortened to Sporting Cristal, is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its association football, soccer team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac District, Rímac district by e ...

from Peru in 1963, and returning once again for

for the last time in 1964. Botafogo was the club for which Didi played the most matches: he played 313 games and scored 114 goals. He was Rio champion for the club in 1957, 1961 and 1962 and also won the 1962 Rio-São Paulo Tournament, the same year he won the Pentagonal of Mexico and, in 1963, the Paris Tournament. In 1965 he moved to the Mexican league to play for C.D. Veracruz. In 1966, at the age of 38, he signed with

expecting to lead the team with his experience, but he played only four games. After that, he decided to become a coach and retired as a player.

Managerial career

After retiring as player, he began a coach career with

, and was called to manage the Peru national team in 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 ...

, successfully guided the Peruvians qualifying at the expense of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, repaying the debt for eliminating Peru from

. That team included stars like Teófilo Cubillas and Héctor Chumpitaz were eventually defeated in the quarter-finals by Brazil. In 1971, he managed the top

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

club, River Plate, when he accepted a lucrative position, and had his apex in his coaching career with Turkish Giant Fenerbahçe, guiding the team to two consecutive Turkish First Division (later named

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

) titles in 1973–1974 and later in 1974–1975. He also coached important Brazilian clubs like Bangu, Fluminense,

, Cruzeiro, Peruvian club

Alianza Lima Club Alianza Lima, more commonly known as simply Alianza Lima, is a Peru, Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District, Lima, La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. The club was founded under the name of Sport Alianza on February ...

, the Kuwaiti national team and Al-Ahli.

Later years

He would marry two times throughout his life. His son

Bibi Bibi is a given name, nickname and surname. People with the nickname or stage name * Bibi Andersson (1935–2019), Swedish actress * Bibi (artist) (born 1964), French visual artist Fabrice Cahoreau * Bibi Baskin (born 1952), Irish former TV an ...

who also played as a professional footballer would come from his first marriage to his first wife, Maria Luíza do Espírito Santo. In October 2000, he was inducted into the FIFA Hall of Champions. By this time he was quite ill and died the following year in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 72, after contracting pneumonia from complications arising from

intestinal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Didi goal.''

Honours

Player

Botafogo *

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

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 ...

* Torneio Rio–São Paulo:

*Tournament Home: 1961, 1962, 1963 *Colombia International Tournament: 1960 *Pentagonal Club of Mexico: 1962 Fluminense * Copa Rio:

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

Real Madrid *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

: 1959–60 * Ramon de Carranza Trophy: 1959 Brazil *

*Copa Oswaldo Cruz: 1955, 1958, 1961, 1962 *O'Higgins Cup: 1955, 1961 *

Panamerican Championship The Panamerican Championship was an official continental competition of association football organized by the Panamerican Football Confederation (PFC) every four years for senior national teams, with three editions held from 1952 through 1960. Th ...

* Taça do Atlântico: 1956

Individual

* FIFA World Cup Golden Ball: 1958 * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1958 * IFFHS Brazilian Player of the 20th Century (7th place)IFFHS' Century Elections
* IFFHS World Player of the 20th Century (19th place) *The Best of The Best – Player of the Century: Top 50 * Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame * Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Bronze): 2020 * IFFHS South America Men's Team of All Time: 2021

References

External links