Vavá
Brazilian footballer (1934–2002)
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Edvaldo Izidio Neto (12 November 1934 – 19 January 2002), commonly known as Vavá, was a Brazilian professional footballer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest strikers of his generation. Nicknamed "Peito de Aço" (Steel Chest), he most notably played for Vasco da Gama, Atlético Madrid, Palmeiras and the Brazil national team.
 Vavá in 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edvaldo Izídio Neto | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 12 November 1934[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Recife, Brazil | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 19 January 2002 (aged 67)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Striker | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1949–1950 | Sport Recife | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1951–1958 | Vasco da Gama | 456 | (191) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1958–1961 | Atlético Madrid | 71 | (31) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1961–1963 | Palmeiras | 142 | (71) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1964–1967 | América | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1967–1968 | Toros Neza | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1968 | San Diego Toros | 28 | (5) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1969 | Portuguesa | |||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 697 | (298) | ||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1955–1964 | Brazil | 20 | (15) | |||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971–1972 | Córdoba | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1974–1975 | Córdoba | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1977–1978 | Granada | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | Al Rayyan | |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
Career
At club level, Vavá started his career with Sport Recife from 1949 to 1950. Between 1958 and 1961, he played for Atlético Madrid, moving abroad for the first time. Vavá finished his career with Potuguesa de Desportos in 1970.[3]
Vavá earned twenty caps with the Brazil national team between 1955 and 1964, scoring a total of fifteen goals. On 13 November 1955, he debuted in the Oswaldo Cruz Cup against Paraguay.[1] Vavá was part of the team that won both the 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cups,[4] in which he scored five and four goals respectively. Furthermore, he was a joint-recipient of the 1962 World Cup Golden Boot as one of the tournament's top scorers. Vavá was also part of Brazil's squad for the 1952 Summer Olympics.[5]
Vavá scored in the World Cup finals of both 1958 (twice) and 1962 (once), thus becoming the first player to score in two finals. Only five players have achieved this feat, the other four being Pelé, Paul Breitner, Zinedine Zidane, and Kylian Mbappé. He remained the only player to have scored in two consecutive World Cup final matches until Mbappé achieved the feat in 2022, having also scored in the final in 2018.[6]
Death
On 19 January 2022, Vavá died in a Rio de Janeiro clinic on Saturday aged 67.[2]
Club statistics
| Club performance | League | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals |
| Spain | League | |||
| 1958–59 | Atlético Madrid | La Liga | 27 | 16 |
| 1959–60 | 29 | 10 | ||
| 1960–61 | 15 | 5 | ||
| Country | Spain | 71 | 31 | |
| United States | League | |||
| 1968 | San Diego Toros | North American Soccer League | 28 | 5 |
| Country | United States | 28 | 5 | |
| Total | 99 | 36 | ||
Honours
Club
Sport Recife
- Campeonato Pernambucano: 1949
Vasco da Gama
- Campeonato Carioca: 1952, 1956, 1958
- Torneio Rivadavia Correa Meyer: 1953
- Tournoi de Paris: 1957
- Torneio Rio–São Paulo: 1958
Atlético de Madrid
Palmeiras
Club América
International
Brazil national football team
