João Leite da Silva Neto, known simply as João Leite (

Pitangui Pitangui is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the states of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast region of Brazil. See also *List of municipalities in Minas Gerais References

Municipalities ...

, October 13, 1955), was a politician in the

Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais The Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais () is the state legislature of Brazil's Minas Gerais state. It consists of 77 state deputies elected by proportional representation and is based in Belo Horizonte, the state capital. The Assembly has b ...

and a former Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

who played 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 ...

in the decades of 1970, 1980 and 1990.

Career

João Leite started and spent most of his career at

Clube Atlético Mineiro The Clube Atlético Mineiro (), commonly known as Atlético Mineiro and colloquially as the Galo (, "Rooster"), is a professional association football club in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Minas ...

, for which he holds the record for most appearances and most trophies won. João Leite first played for Atlético in 1977, substituting Ortiz. He also played in the Campeonato Brasileiro, with his team finishing the championship at second place after losing to

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 ...

in the finals. In the 17 years that he played for the club, João Leite played a total of 684 matches, won twelve

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 ...

and one

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL () was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contest, similar to the ...

. He also played for

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

, Guarani and

América Mineiro The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, before returning to Atlético Mineiro and ending his career. He was selected for the Brazil national team during the

1980 Mundialito The 1980–81 FIFA World Champions' Gold Cup (Spanish for ''"Copa de Oro de Campeones Mundiales"''), also known as Mundialito (''"Little World Cup"''), was an international football tournament organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and su ...

and the

1979 Copa América The 1979 edition of the Copa América association football tournament was played between 18 July and 12 December. It was not held in a particular country, all matches were played on a home and away basis. Defending champions Peru were given a bye ...

, and played 5 official games in total with the ''Seleção'' between 1980 and 1981. João Leite was one of the precursors of the ''Atletas de Cristo'' ("Christ's Athletes") movement, and he used to give bibles to the opposing players, becoming known as ''Goleiro de Deus'' ("God's Goalkeeper"). Nowadays João Leite is state

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

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 ...

, and has been since 1995. In January 2023 he requested retirement from politics along with nine other ex-colleagues.

Honours

Club

Atlético Mineiro *

: 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991 *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

* Brazilian Champions Cup:

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

Individual

* Bola de Prata: 1979

References

Brazilian sportsperson-politicians Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazil men's international footballers Clube Atlético Mineiro players América Futebol Clube (MG) players Guarani FC players Vitória S.C. players Primeira Liga players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Footballers from Minas Gerais 1955 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers 1979 Copa América players Brazilian evangelicals Members of the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais Brazilian Social Democracy Party politicians People from Pitangui 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen {{Brazil-footy-goalkeeper-stub