Holding the most ungrateful position in football, vulnerable all the time, the goalkeeper has a day all his own to be honored: April 26th. It has been this way since 1976, after an initiative by professors Raul Carlesso and Reginaldo Pontes Bielinski.
They created the tribute that also extends to women who work as goalkeepers. Carlesso was the first goalkeeper coach to join the Brazilian National Team’s technical staff at a World Cup – in 1974, in Germany.
At first, they chose April 14th, 1975, for this celebration. But they changed the date that would already be in effect the following year to honor the goalkeeper Haílton Corrêa Arruda, known as Manga, who at the time held the title of Brazilian champion with Internacional.
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Now 87 years old, Manga is proud of his winning resume. In his career, he was also successful at Sport, Botafogo, where he had a turbulent relationship with João Saldanha, Grêmio, and Coritiba, in addition to Internacional. Furthermore, he was the starting goalkeeper for the Brazilian National Team at the 1966 World Cup.
Manga was born on April 26, 1937. He is part of a gallery of great Brazilian goalkeepers who gained international fame over the decades, such as Joel, Germano, Batatais, Barbosa, Castilho, Gylmar, Félix, Leão, Waldir Peres, Carlos, Taffarel, Marcos, Dida, Júlio César, Rogério Ceni, Alisson, and Ederson, among many others.
On this date, another holder of the position who recently made history must also be honored. This is Fábio, from Fluminense, who, at the age of 43, became the oldest player to compete in a Brazilian Championship.
Among the women, the names of Meg, Andreia, and Bárbara also figure at the top of the same gallery – the three made history wearing the Brazilian National Team jersey.
Remembering Zagallo
Sambafoot Series launched a new documentary about the football legend Zagallo. Known as ‘Velho Lobo‘ and as superstitious as it gets, Zagallo helped shape what Brazilian football is nowadays — as a player and as a coach.
The first, second and third episodes are available on Sambafoot’s Youtube channel. Stay tuned for the upcoming releases as we keep telling this legend’s life story.
