Didi (footballer, born 1928)

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Didi
Didi in 1958
Personal information
Full name Waldyr Pereira
Date of birth (1928-10-08)8 October 1928
Place of birth Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
Date of death 12 May 2001(2001-05-12) (aged 72)
Place of death Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)
Youth career
1944 São Cristóvão FC
1945 Industrial
1945 Rio Branco
1945–1946 Goytacaz
1946
Americano
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1947–1949[1] Madureira 32 (8)
1949–1956
Fluminense
150 (51)
1956–1959 Botafogo 64 (40)
1959–1960
Real Madrid
19 (6)
1960–1962 Botafogo 44 (19)
1962–1964 Sporting Cristal 32 (4)
1964–1965 Botafogo 11 (1)
1965–1966
CD Veracruz
29 (4)
1966 São Paulo 4 (0)
International career
1952–1962 Brazil 68 (20)
Managerial career
1962–1964 Sporting Cristal
1967–1969 Sporting Cristal
1969–1970 Peru
1970–1971 River Plate
1972–1975 Fenerbahçe
1975
Fluminense
1977 Cruzeiro
1977–1981
Al-Ahli (Jeddah)
1981 Botafogo
1981 Cruzeiro
1982–1983
Al-Shabab[2]
1985 Fortaleza
1986 São Paulo
1986
Alianza Lima
1989–1990 Bangu
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Brazil
FIFA World Cup
Winner 1958 Sweden
Winner 1962 Chile
Copa América
Runner-up 1953 Peru
Runner-up 1957 Peru
Runner-up 1959 Argentina
Panamerican Championship
Winner 1952 Chile
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Waldyr Pereira, also known as Didi (Portuguese pronunciation: [dʒiˈdʒi]; 8 October 1928 – 12 May 2001), was a Brazilian footballer who played as a midfielder or as a forward. He played in three FIFA World Cups (1954, 1958, and 1962), 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

swerve downward unexpectedly at a point resulting in a goal.[3][4][5]

During his career, he was part of

Amarildo
.

Early life

Didi was born into a poor family in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes, 150 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. As a youngster, he sold peanuts in order to help his family, and began playing football in the streets [4][5] and nearly had his right leg amputated when he was 14 due to a severe infection following an injury to his knee. He later recovered and played for local clubs in his hometown.

Playing career

Celebration after final whistle in 1958 FIFA World Cup Final. From the left, Didi, Pelé and Gylmar.

He became professional playing for

Maracanã Stadium.[6]

During the

Battle of Berne
; Didi was involved with the brawl that followed this bad-tempered match.

At club level, he moved to

Maracanã to his house, in the neighbourhood of Laranjeiras (9,4 km), in his kit, if Botafogo won the championship; 5,000 Botafogo fans joined him as he did so.[7]

His greatest achievement came at the 1958 FIFA World Cup where he was player of the tournament.[7] From midfield, he masterminded the first of his two FIFA World Cup successes for Brazil. In 68 international matches he scored 20 goals,[8] including a dozen using his trademark free-kicks.

In 1959 he was signed by

Francisco Gento
. Despite his great reputation after the 1958 FIFA World Cup, he played only 19 matches with 6 goals for the Spaniards and often clashed with the team leader Alfredo Di Stéfano, 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, 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

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

After almost three successful years with Botafogo, he signed with

Botafogo FR
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

São Paulo Futebol Clube
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

Didi as a River Plate Coach in 1971.
Didi as a River Plate Coach in 1971.

After retiring as player he began a coach career with Sporting Cristal, and was called to manage the Peru national team in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, successfully guided the Peruvians qualifying at the expense of Argentina, repaying the debt for eliminating Peru from 1958 FIFA World Cup.[9] 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 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) titles in 1973–1974 and later in 1974–1975.

He also coached important Brazilian clubs like

Al-Ahli
teams.

Later years

In October 2000, he was inducted into the FIFA Hall of Champions.[10] 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.[4]

Honours

Player

Botafogo

Fluminense

Real Madrid

  • Ramon de Carranza Trophy
    : 1959

Brazil

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Jornal dos Sports". Biblioteca Nacional Digital (in Portuguese).
  2. ^ "الشباب يلغي معسكره فالشرقية".
  3. ^ "Kings of the free-kick". FIFA.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014
  4. ^ a b c d Brian Glanville (15 May 2001). "Didi". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  5. ^ a b c "Didi". The Telegraph. 15 May 2001. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  6. ^ Maracanã Stadium, Sambafoot
  7. ^ .
  8. ^ Waldir Pereira "Didi" – International Appearances and Goals, RSSSF, 6 September 2006
  9. ^ "Ricardo Gareca y Waldir Pereira, los verdugos y héroes de Perú". 19 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Rivaldo on top of the world". FIFA. Archived from the original on 13 December 2006. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
  11. ^ a b c "Didi, the unflappable genius". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  12. ^ a b IFFHS' Century Elections Archived 12 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "The Best of The Best" Archived 26 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 17 November 2015
  14. MARCA
    . 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  15. ^ "IFFHS".

External links